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SORXPTUBE 

ILLUSTRATIONS: 

EXPLANATORY  OK 

Kumerotts  &tvtu> 

AND   OF 
VARIOUS  CUSTOMS  MENTIONED  IN  THE  BIBLE. 

WITH 

TWENTY-EIGHT  CUTS. 

FIRST   SERIES. 


AMERICAN  SUNDAY  SCHOOL  UNION, 

NO.    148    CHESNUT   STREET. 

1827. 


A 


SCRIPTURE  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


ON  THE  METHOD  OF  PLOUGHING  IN  THE 
EAST. 

The  machines  used  by  the  eastern  nations 
for  ploughing,  are  constructed  upon  the  same 
general  principle,  though  with  considerable 
variation.  The  whole  power  of  these  instru- 
ments, however,  seems  only  adapted  for  what 
an  English  farmer  would  call  scratching,  ra- 
ther than  ploughing  the  earth.  It  is  evident 
from  the  annexed  sketch  of  the  eastern  plough 
while  at  work,  that  it  can  only  operate  upon 
the  surface  of  the  ground;  and  is  not  like  the 
English  machine,  intended  to  turn  up  fresh 
earth,  and  subject  it  to  the  influences  of  the 
atmosphere.  The  plough-share  of  the  latter, 
is  a  mass  of  iron  of  great  strength  and  magni- 
tude. Our  swords  are  of  a  length  and  form 
a2 


0  ON  THE  METHOD  O? 

so  ill  adapted  to  be  converted  into  English 
plough-shares,  and  applied  to  peaceful  pur- 
poses, that  we  do  not  feel  the  full  force  of  the 
delightful  idea  conveyed  in  the  prophet's  pre- 
diction, "they  shall  beat  their  swords  into 
plough-shares, "  until  we  observe  the  plough- 
share employed  by  the  oriental  nations.  It  is 
a  broad  but  not  a  large  piece  of  iron,  which 
tips  the  end  of  the  shaft;  and  the  swords  of 
the  ancient  warriors  were  short  and  thick,  so 
that  a  very  little  trouble  indeed  would  convert 
them  into  plough-shares. 

The  oxen  at  plough  will  naturally  remind 
the  reader  of  several  passages  of  Scripture, 
wherein  this  labour  is  referred  to  as  perform- 
ed by  oxen:  so  we  read  in  the  1  Kings  xix. 
ver.  19,  that  Elisha  "  was  ploughing  with 
twelve  yoke  of  oxen  before  him,  and  he  with 
the  twelfth.  "  This  great  number  of  oxen  sug- 
gests the  idea  of  great  riches  in  their  owner; 
and  as  they  appear  to  have  been  the  property 
of  Elisha  himself,  or  at  least  of  his  family, 
they  lead  us  to  suppose  that  lie  would  not  have 
quitted  so  much  wealth,  nor  have  offered  a 
yoke  of  his  oxen  as  a  farewell  feast,  to  his  peo- 


PLOUGHING  IN  THE  EAST.  7 

pie,  as  related  in  the  two  last  verses  of  the 
chapter  above  quoted,  previously  to  his  de- 
parture to  follow  after  Elijah,  had  he  not  been 
conscious  of  a  divine  power  influencing  his 
mind  and  directing  his  actions. 

Ploughing  in  the  East  was  not  always  per- 
formed at  once  going  over  the  land;  the  first 
time  it  was  done  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of 
preparing  it;  after  this  the  seed  was  sown, 
and  a  second  ploughing  answered  the  purpose 
of  our  harrowing,  by  covering  the  seeds  pre- 
viously committed  to  the  ground.  It  was  in 
short  harrowing  and  ploughing  combined  in 
one  operation.  That  the  first  ploughing  was 
a  work  requiring  attention,  seems  to  be  im- 
plied in  the  form  of  the  phrase  in  Isaiah,  xxviii. 
24.  "  Doth  the  ploughman  plough  all  day  to 
sow?"  literally,  does  he  all  day  plough  plough? 
The  repetition  of  the  last  word  signifying  that 
second  and  lighter  ploughing,  which  takes 
place  after  the  seed  is  sown,  and  reduces  to 
dust,  those  clods  which  could  only  be  broken 
by  the  first  operation. 

In  Genesis  xlv.  ver.  6,  Joseplv  says  to  his 
brethren   "  and  yet  there  are  five  years  in  the 


8  PLOUGHING  IN  THE  EAST. 

which  there  shall  neither  be  earing  nor  har* 
vest;"  here  the  youthful  reader  is  in  danger  of 
confounding  the  sense  in  which  the  word  ear- 
ing was  used,  by  the  pious  translators  of  our 
English  Bible,  and  the  modern  meaning  of 
the  term.  It  was  formerly  employed  by  a 
figure  of  speech,  to  express  cultivation  of  any 
kind,  but  is  now  literally  restricted  to  the 
gathering  of  ripe  ears  of  corn,  and  if  taken  in 
this  sense,  would  mean  the  same  thing  as  har- 
vest, which  certainly  was  never  intended  by 
the  wise  and  learned  translators  above  men- 
tioned. They  intended  to  express  that  Jo- 
seph said  there  shall  be  neither  ploughing 
nor  harvest.  The  same  interpretation  must 
be  given  to  1  Sam.  viii.  12,  where  Samuel 
told  the  Israelites  that  the  king  whom  they  so 
much  desired,  would  take  their  sons  and  set 
them  to  ear  his  ground,  and  to  reap  his  har- 
vest, that  is  to  cultivate  or  plough  his  ground. 
Again  in  Exod.  xxxiv,  91,  "in  earing  time," 
that  is,  in  ploughing  time,  "  and  in  harvest 
thou  shalt  rest."  In  Deut.  xxi.  4,  "  a  rough 
valley  which  is  neither  eared  nor  sown,"  or 
neither  ploughed  nor  sown. 


PLOUGHING  IN  THE  EAST.  9 

Our  blessed  Lord  says,  Luke  ix.  verse  62, 
"  No  man  having  put  his  hand  to  the  plough 
and  looking  back,  is  fit  for  the  kingdom  of 
God."  The  ancient  ploughs  were  so  light 
that  if  the  ploughman  did  not  pay  the  greatest 
attention,  and  lean  upon,  and  as  it  were,  load 
it  with  the  weight  of  his  body,  it  would  glide 
over  the  ground  without  making  any  furrows, 
and,  of  course,  leave  no  impression  behind. 
This  beautiful  allusion  of  the  Redeemer,  may 
not  only  be  applied  to  the  ministers  of  his  gos- 
pel, but  to  all  the  members  of  his  church  on 
earth,  and  even  to  those  who  pursue  things 
which  are  merely  temporal.  Without  a  fixed 
attention  on  the  part  of  those  who  hear  as  well 
as  those  who  preach,  on  the  part  of  the  ingen- 
uous youth  seeking  after  religious  instruction 
and  useful  knowledge,  as  well  as  on  the  part 
of  those  who  endeavour  to  assist  him  in  the 
search,  no  trace  can  be  left  in  the  memory, 
and  no  impression  remain  upon  the  mind. 
Those  who  have  been  eminently  pious  or 
learned,  and  especially  those  who  have  united 
both  these  excellences,  have  invariably  been 
remarkable  for  attentive,  serious,  and  thought- 


10  PLOUGHING  IN  THE  EAST. 

ful  habits.  They  have  not  only  put  their 
hands  to  the  plough  in  religion  and  science, 
but  pressed  upon  it  with  the  whole  weight  of 
their  undistracted  attention,  never  looking 
back. 

In  addition  to  the  ploughman  at  his  labour, 
our  sketch  presents  a  view  of  part  of  a  culti- 
vated field,  the  corn  of  which  is  nearly  ripe: 
near  this  corn  is  a  kind  of  stage,  of  more  than 
one  story  in  heigh+,  whereon  sits  a  man  to 
guard  the  corn  from  depredators  of  every 
kind,  and  especially  from  the  birds. 


12 


Egyptian  Wheat. 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WHEAT.  IS 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WHEAT. 

In  reading  the  delightful  history  of  Joseph, 
so  interestingly  detailed  by  the  inspired  wri- 
ter, those  who  think,  while  they  rea<d,  may 
probably  have  supposed,  that  the  wheat  men- 
tioned, Gen.  xli.  5,  in  Pharaoh's  dream,  and 
which  is  said  to  have  had  seven  ears  full  and 
good  upon  a  single  stalk,  had  no  existence  in 
nature,  but  was  merely  such  a  symbol  as  it 
pleased  God  to  employ  to  forewarn  the  Egyp- 
tian king,  of  the  coining  years  of  plenty  which 
were  appointed  to  precede  those  of  famine. 
This,  however,  was  not  the  case,  for  there  is 
a  species  of  wheat  still  growing  in  Egypt, 
which  actually  bears  seven  ears  upon  a  single 
stalk;  and  of  this  wheat  this  is  an  accurate 
sketch.     The  ear   from  which   the   original 
drawing  was  taken,  not  being  grown  in  its 
native  soil,  had  degenerated  from  its  proper 
fulness,  although,  as  our  readers  will  see,  it 
had  spread  enough  to  determine  that  it  bore 


14  THE  EGYPTIAN  WHEAT. 

seven  ears  of  corn,  and  to  demonstrate,  that 
when  full  it  must  present  a  most  expressive 
emblem  of  the  greatest  plenty.  Those  part* 
of  this  specimen  which  were  perfect,  are 
strongly  shaded  on  the  cut,  while  the  rest  are 
lighter.  This  wheat  differs  from  our  own,  by 
having  a  solid  stem,  or  at  least  a  stem  full  of 
pith,  in  order  to  yield  sufficient  nourish- 
ment, and  afford  proper  support  to  so  great  a 
weight  as  the  ears  which  it  bears,  and  which 
demand  a  proportionate  quantity  of  nutritive 
juices:  whereas  the  stem  of  our  own  wheat 
is  a  mere  hollow  straw.  Our  pious  young 
friends  will,  no  doubt,  at  once  remark,  that 
the  exact  agreement  of  this  very  peculiar  kind 
of  wheat,  with  that  mentioned  in  the  sacred 
volume,  and  of  which  Moses  wrote  more  than 
3500  years  ago,  found  too  in  the  very  land 
where  he  was  born,  and  so  long  sojourned, 
and  growing  to  perfection  no  where  else,  is 
a  most  impressive  natural  evidence  of  the 
minute  accuracy  of  the  Bible.  It  has  been 
cultivated  by  some  of  our  ablest  agricultu- 
ralists, who  find  that  it  produces  more  than 
any  other  kind  of  wheat,  but  though  the  grain 


THE  EGYPTIAN  WHEAT.  15 

is  fine  of  its  sort,  it  does  not  suit  our  mar- 
kets, principally  because,  as  already  intima- 
ted, it  soon  degenerates  here,  as  our  country 
is  not  the  soil  and  climate  for  which  Provi- 
dence has  adapted  it;  for  it  is  a  well  known 
agricultural  maxim,  that  every  plant  thrives 
best,  and  will  only  bear  to  perfection  in  its 
native  country,  or  in  such  other  climates  as 
most  resemble  that  from  which  it  was  first 
obtained. 


16 


K 


17 


ON  THE  MANNER  OF  THRESHING  IN  THE 
EAST. 

To  introduce  the  information  furnished  by 
this  sketch,  we  shall  first  notice  the  threshing 
floor;  which  is  a  level,  smooth  area,  enclosed 
by  mud-brick  walls,  having  a  proper  opening 
for  entrance,  and  on  one  side  of  it  the  barn  or 
garner,  the  door  of  which  is  seen  in  the  wall. 
The  area  enclosed  by  these  walls  is  either  pre- 
pared, according  to  the  account  of  Dr.  Shaw, 
or  naturally  smooth,  hard,  and  bound,  so  as 
to  be  fit  for  using  without  preparation.  The 
figures  at  the  lower  corner  of  the  plate,  repre- 
sent the  wain,  car,  cart,  drag,  or  threshing 
instrument,  so  called  by  different  translators 
of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  In  the  left  hand 
figure,  it  is  supposed  to  be  set  upright  on  one 
of  its  sides,  and  appears  to  consist  of  a  strong 
square  frame,  well  secured  with  iron  pins  to 
keep  it  tight  and  steady:  within  this  are  three 
rollers,  whose  pins  at  each  end  are  inserted 
into  the  frame,  and  pass  through  it;  on  each 
of  these  rollers  are  circular  iron  cutters,  with 
b2 


18  THRESHING  IN  THE  EAST* 

sharp  edges,  the  track  of  which  lies  between 
that  of  the  other  cutters  which  compose  the 
instrument,  and  it  is  these  cutters  that  are 
furnished  with  teeth,  which  aite  alluded  to  in 
the  forty-first  chapter  and  fifteenth  verse  of 
the  prophet  Isaiah. 

The  right  hand  figure  is  an  elevation,  or 
side  view  of  the  same  instrument,  which  shows 
that  the  external  square  frame  turns  upward 
in  front,  that  it  may  more  readily  pass  over 
the  straw  that  lies  before  it.  The  pins  which 
mark  the  insertion  of  the  rollers  are  also  seen: 
and  from  this  frame  rises  a  seat,  or  kind  of 
chair,  for  the  convenience  of  the  driver.  The 
yoke  is  represented  in  connexion  with  the 
left  hand  figure,  to  which  it  joins  by  rings 
and  a  hook  which  allow  of  free  motion:  and 
the  other  end,  which  is  t|$pe  by  the  oxen,  is 
equally  constructed  for  securing  the  same  ad- 
vantage. 

*The  principal  subject  of  this  draught,  shows 
the  manner  of  using;  this  machine,  and  pre- 
sents, what  it  proposes  to  illustrate,  in  a  more 
lively  manner  to  the  eye  than  it  is  possible  for 
the  best  written  account  to  describe. 


THRESHING  IN  THE  EAST.  19 

Beyond  the  circle  of  corn  strewed  for 
threshing,  a  man  is  engaged  in  winnowing  a 
quantity  of  corn,  which  is  already  threshed  by 
throwing  it  up  against  the  wind,  which  blows 
away  the  chatt',  but  leaves  the  grains  of  corn ; 
the  weight  of  which  ensures  their  falling 
down.  Observe  the  form  of  the  fan  used  by 
this  figure:  it  resembles  a  small  shovel,  with 
a  long  handle;  unlike  any  kind  of  corn  fan, 
or  winnowing  machine,  used  in  England:  the 
representation  of  it,  therefore,  is  well  adapted 
to  correct  whatever  erroneous  conceptions  of 
the  instrument,  the  reader  might  heretofore 
have  entertained. 

The  number  of  passages  in  Scripture  which 
may  be  explained  or  illustrated  by  means  of 
these  delineations,  is  too  great  to  be  enume- 
rated here;  and  the  youthful  reader  will  find 
it  a  delightful  task  to  search  his  Bible  for 
and  compare  them  with  this  account.  We 
shall,  however,  refer  him  to  the  seventh  verse 
of  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Jeremiah,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  twelfth  verse  of  the  third  chap- 
ter of  St.  Matthew,  where  the  process  of  win- 
nowing with  the  fan  is  alluded  to. 


20  THRESHING  IK  THE  EAST. 

We  remark  in  conclusion,  that  we  here  set 
the  import  of  the  phrase  '  thou  shalt  not  muz- 
zle the  ox  when  he  treadeth  out  the  corn,"  as 
applied  by  the  apostle  to  ministers — that  is, 
"  it  is  not  fit  that  he  who  contributes  to  pre- 
pare food  for  others  should  be  denied  a  suita- 
ble portion  of  sustenance  for  himself."  And 
it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  among  all  the  na- 
tions of  the  East,  the  oxen  which  tread  out 
the  corn  never  were,  and  to  this  day  are  not 
muzzled,  although  they  always  were  and  still 
are  muzzled  when  employed  in  any  other 
kind  of  labour. 

- 


Eastern  Method  of  Watering  the  Land, 


EASTERN  METHOD  OF  WATERING  THE 
LAND. 

The  annexed  is  a  representation  of  the.  Per 
aian  Wheel,  given  upon  the  authority  of  Dr. 
Shaw,  in  order  to  elucidate  several  passages 
of  Scripture.  While  one  division  of  the  buck- 
ets descends  empty,  the  rotation  of  the  wheel 
brings  the  other  up  full  of  water.  The  ma- 
chinery worked  by  cattle,  is  easily  understood. 
Engines  and  contrivances  of  this  kind,  are 
placed  all  along  the  banks  of  the  river  Nile, 
from  the  sea  to  the  cataracts;  their  respective 
situations  being  higher,  and  consequently,  the 
difficulty  of  raising  water  greater,  the  farther 
we  advance  up  that  river. 

This  method  of  conveying  moisture,  and 
nourishment  to  a  land  that  is  rarely  refreshed 
with  rain,  is  often  alluded  to  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  where  also  it  is  made  the  distin- 
guishing quality  betwixt  Egypt  and  the  Pro- 
mised Land,  or  Canaan.  "  The  land,"  says 
Moses  to  the  children  of  Israel,  Deut.  xi.  10, 
11 — "  whither  thou  goest  in  to  possess  it,  is 
not  as  the  land  of  Egypt  from  whence  ye  came 


24  EASTERN  METHOD  07 

out;  where  thou  sowedst  thy  seed,  and  water- 
edst  it  with  thy  foot,  like  as  a  garden  of  herbs: 
— But  the  land  whither  ye  go  to  possess  it,  is 
a  land  of  hills  and  valleys,  and  drinketh  wa- 
ter of  the  rain  of  heaven. " 

The  meaning  of  the  remarkable  expression 
"  wateredst  it  with  thy  foot,"  we  shall  endea- 
vour to  explain  in  our  next  subject;  but  for 
the  present,  shall  confine  ourselves  to  the  Per- 
sian Wheel  here  depicted. 

The  simile  used  by  Balaam,  Numb.  xxiv.  7, 
— "  He  (meaning  Israel)  shall  pour  the  water 
out  of  his  buckets,"  refers  to  this  agricultural 
custom,  as  do  the  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah 
xl.  15,— "Behold,  the  nations  areas  a  drop 
of  a  bucket. " 

The  original  word  in  the  3d  verse  of  the 
cxli.  Psalm,  which  our  translators  have  ren- 
dered door,  "  Set  a  watch,  O  Lord,  before  my 
mouth,  keep  the  door  of  my  lips,"  appears  to 
have  been  mistaken  for  the  drop  of  my  lips, 
in  allusion,  like  the  passage  just  quoted  from 
the  prophet  Isaiah,  to  the  dropping  from  the 
buckets  of  the  machines,  employed  in  watering 
lands.     Job  xxix.    22, — 6ays,   "My  speech 


WATERING  THE  LAND.  25 

dropped  upon  them. "  And  the  allusion  of  the 
Psalmist,  implies  that  not  only  his  set  speeches, 
his  open  and  admitted  discourse,  required 
to  be  guarded,  but  also  his  accidental  remarks, 
his  by-words,  his  hints,  and  the  smallest  par- 
ticles of  speech  which  dropped  from  his  lips. 
Whoever  pays  attention  to  what  passes  in 
his  own  heart,  and  in  the  world,  will  find  am- 
ple reason  to  pray  God  for  a  watch  and  a  strict 
watch  too,  over  the  door  of  his  lips.  Job 
xxxviii.  37,— compares  the  clouds  to  the 
buckets  in  the  wheels  of  the  machine,  which 
do  not  discharge  their  contents  till  they  arrive 
at  the  top  of  the  wheel,  where  they  are  gradu- 
ally laid  along,  and  their  mouths  inclined 
downwards.  By  the  words, *;  Who  can  num- 
ber the  clouds  in  wisdom?  or  who  can  stay 
the  bottles  of  heaven,"  Job  certainly  alludes 
to  such  buckets  which  come  up  full,  but  are 
emptied  only  at  the  proper  time,  neither  soon- 
er nor  later;  but  when  wisdom  and  power 
combine  to  lay  them  along;  and  this  in  the 
instance  of  the  clouds,  as  he  beautifully  inti- 
mates, requires  Divine  appointment  and  su- 
perintendence. 


«S 


%7 


CHINESE  METHOD  OF  WATERING  THE  LAND. 

This  machine  consists  of  a  box,  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  under  part  wholly  enclo- 
sed; one  end  of  this  box  is  laid  on  the  lower 
water,  the  other  end  is  raised  to  a  proper  level; 
a  number  of  boards  adapted  to  the  size  of  this 
enclosure,  are  drawn  up  it  by  the  power  of  the 
wheel,  and  with  these  boards  the  water  rises 
also:  for  it  cannot  flow  out  on  the  side,  nor 
at  the  top,  nor  at  the  bottom,  since  these  are 
enclosed;  neither  can  it  flow  out  behind,  since 
there  the  rising  board  stops  it:  it  must  there- 
fore rise  before  the  board  which  impels  it,  till 
it  arrives  at  the  orifice  for  its  discharge  into 
the  upper  level. 

When  the  board  has  thus  discharged  its 
lading,  it  is  continued  in  its  course  over  the 
wheel,  is  carried  back  again,  down  the  upper 
groove  of  the  box,  and,  when  arrived  at  the 
lower  water,  is  ready  to  resume  its  former  ap- 
plication, of  closing  the  lower  division  of  the 


2#  CHINESE  METHOD  OF 

box,  and  forcing  the  water  it  finds  there  to 
ascend. 

A  succession  of  these  boards  maintains  a 
constant  stream,  and  thus  furnishes  water 
from  the  lower  grounds  to  the  higher,  even 
enough  to  assist  in  the  cultivation  of  rice, 
which  is  always  when  young,  overflowed  with 
water.  We  ought  to  observe,  that  Moses,  in 
Deuteronomy  xi.  10.  (see  the  preceding  arti- 
cle) is  speaking  of  an  extensive  cultivation, 
such  as  of  corn  lands ;  for  he  evidently  dis- 
tinguishes it  from  a  garden,  or  plantation,  by 
making  such  cultivation  the  object  of  his  com- 
parison; where  thou  sowedst  thy  seed  and 
wateredst  it  with  thy  foot;  like  as  a  garden 
of  herbs,  that  is,  in  the  same  manner. 

This  ingenious  mode  of  watering  has  been 
resorted  to  in  Palestine,  and  also  in  Egypt; 
indeed,  from  certain  passages  in  Philo,  an  an- 
cient Greek  writer,  who  flourished  at  Alexan- 
dria in  the  first  century,  it  appears  there  is 
strong  reason  to  conclude  that  the  Chinese 
borrowed  this  invention  from  the  Egyptians: 
for  Philo  describes  a  machine  lor  watering 
lands  so  stronglv  resembling  this,  which  was  - 


WATERING  THE  LAND.  29 

taken  from  Sir  George  Staunton's  account  of 
Lord  Macartney's  Embassy  to  China,  that  it 
appears  to  be  the  very  same.  This,  together 
with  the  similarity  which  long  subsisted  be- 
tween the  Egyptians  and  Chinese  seems  to 
suggest  that  they  either  were  formerly  one 
people,  or,  being  immediately  derived  from 
one  common  stock,  had  naturally  communi- 
cated their  manners,  customs,  principles, 
knowledge,  and  inventions  to  each  other. 


02 


so 


SI 


ARABS  RAISING  WATER  FROM  THE  NILE. 

In  Egypt,  the  rice  grounds  are  inundated 
from  the  time  of  sowing  nearly  to  harvest:  the 
seed  is  commonly  cast  upon  the  water,  a  prac- 
tice twice  alluded  to  in  Scripture.     Balaam, 
prophesying  of  Israel,  Numbers  xxiv.  7,  says 
"His  seed  shall   be  in   many  waters;"  and 
Solomon,  when  speaking  of  acts  of  charity,  in 
his  beautiful  exhortations,  Eccl.  xi.  1,  "Cast 
thy  bread  upon  the  waters,  for  thou  shalt  find 
it  after  many  days,"  finely  intimates,  that  as 
he  who  commits  the  seed  to  the  waters,  which 
is  the  mode  of  sowing  in  that  country,  always 
reaps,  after  a  certain  interval,  the  abundant 
recompense  of  his  labour,  so  they  that  regard 
the  sufferings  of  the  distressed,  and  cast  their 
bread  upon  the  waters,  by  feeding  the  hungry, 
or  clothing  the  naked,  shall  in  no  wise  lose 
their  reward,  but  find  it  after  many  days. 
This  custom  completely  elucidates  the  mean- 
ing of  the  preacher,  which  has  been  greatly 
mistaken  by  many,  who  suppose  that  his  al- 


S2  ARABS  RAISING  WATER 

lusion  was  to  bread  cast  into  the  rivers,  or 
upon  the  waters  of  the  ocean:  it  is  obvious 
this  could  seldom,  if  ever,  be  found  again,  for 
substances  of  that  kind  would  soon  sink  or  be 
disposed  of  by  birds  or  fishes. 

In  order  to  cover  the  lands  with  the  water 
upon  which  they  cast  their  seed,  various  me- 
thods are  employed  by  the  Egyptians.     To 
raise  the  waters  of  the  Nile  into  the  high 
ground  near  the  river,  they  use  buckets  fas- 
tened to  a  wheel,  something  like  those  used  to 
some  of  our  deep  wells;  but  where  the  land  is 
not  much  elevated  above  the  surface  of  the 
river,  they  employ  the  simple  and  probably 
very  ancient  contrivance  of  lifting  it  in  a  bas- 
ket apparently  lined  with  close  matting,  or 
leather.    This  is  the  mode  represented:  two 
men  holding  the  basket  between  them,  by  a 
cord  in  each  hand,  fastened  to  the  edge  of  it, 
lower  it  into  the  Nile,  and  then  swing  it  be- 
tween them,  until  it  acquires  a  velocity  suf- 
ficient to  enable  them  to  throw  the  water  over 
a  bank,  into  a  canal  near  the  river.     The  re- 
gular continuance  of  their  motion,  gives  them 
at  a  distance,   the  appearance  of  automaton 


FROM  THE  NILE.  33 

figures,  rather  than  of  living  beings.  They 
work  with  only  a  coarse  sort  of  cotton  shirt 
girded  round  their  loins,  and  sometimes  en- 
tirely naked,  exposed  to  the  sun's  most  power- 
ful rays  during  the  whole  day,  repeating  one 
of  the  Arabian  songs;  for  they  seem  to  have 
a  peculiar  air  adapted  to  every  kind  of  labour. 


34 


Section 


Gv,br 
Chamber. 


Inner 
Chamber. 


■'■    ABEA      ■ 

M         OR  1!" 

a  OPEN  COURT  mi 


R2ffCa| 


Houses  of  the  East, 


35 

ON  THE  HOUSES  OF  THE  EAST. 

The  annexed  sketch  represents  the  inter- 
nal elevation,  ground  plan,  and  section  of  the 
terrace,  of  one  of  the  houses  of  the  east,  which, 
like  those  of  the  cities  upon  the  coast  of  Bar- 
bary,  are  known  to  have  been  built  in  nearly 
the  same  form  for  many  ages.  They  are  re- 
markable for  enclosed  courts  and  spacious 
chambers,  so  that  a  single  house  often  accom- 
modates several  families;  as  when  parents  in- 
dulge their  married  children  with  a  share  of 
their  habitation;  or  when  several  persons  con- 
tribute towards  the  rent,  to  this  our  Lord 
seems  to  allude,  where  he  says,  "  in  my  fa- 
ther's house  are  many  mansions."  Hence  it 
is  that  the  cities  of  the  Levant,  though  they 
generally  occupy  less  ground  than  those  of 
Europe,  are  so  exceedingly  crowded  and  po- 
pulous, that  many  persons  fall  victims  to  the 
plague,  and  other  contagious  maladies. 

The  streets  of  these  cities,  the  better  to 
shade  them  from  the  sun,  are  usually  narrow, 
with  sometimes  a  range  of  shops  on  each  side. 
The  door  of  the  porch,  and  one  latticed  win- 
dow, or  balcony,  only,  open  into  the  street,  all 
the  rest  of  the  windows,  as  above,  look  into  the 
court    This  external  balcony  is  seldom  used, 


36  ON  THE  HOUSES 

except  during  public  festivals — at  one  of  these, 
probably,  Jezebel  showed  herself  to  Jehu,  2 
Kings  ix.  30,  when  "  she  painted  her  face, 
tired  her  head,  and  looked  out  at  a  window." 

The  court  is  usually  surrounded  with  galle- 
ries, not  unlike  those  which  may  be  remarked 
in  old  inns.  Into  these  galleries  the  spacious 
chambers  of  each  floor  open,  having  no  com- 
munication with  each  other  but  what  the  gal- 
leries afford.  The  stairs  sometimes  begin  in 
the  porch  (see  the  ground  plan)  and  are  after- 
wards continued  through  some  one  corner  of 
each  gallery  to  the  top  of  the  house,  upon 
which  they  terminate  in  a  door$  but  they  are 
generally  carried  up  on  the  outside  of  the 
house:  This  may  elucidate  the  injunction, 
Matt.  xxiv.  17,  "Let  him  which  is  upon  the 
house  top  not  come  down  to  take  any  thing 
out  of  his  house,"  for  he  might  directly  de- 
scend the  stairs,  and  pass  into  the  street,  with- 
out entering  into  any  apartment  of  the  house; 
or  could  escape  to  the  city  gates  by  passing 
along  the  house  tops,  as  we  shall  presently 
proceed  to  show. 

The  house  top  which  is  invariably  flat  and 
covered  with  a  strong  plaster  of  terrace,  or 
cement,  is  on  that  account  often  called,  Tht 


OF  THE  EAST.  $7 

Terrace,  It  is  generally  enclosed  by  two 
walls,  the  highest  towards  the  street;  the 
other,  which  is  always  breast  high,  in  scrip- 
ture called  the  battlements,  Deut.  xxii.  8,  an- 
swering to  our  parapet,  overhangs  the  court. 
Balustrades  and  lattice  work  are  sometimes 
used  in  its  stead;  and  upon  such  a  slight  sup- 
port, Ahaziah,  2  Kings  i.  2,  might  be  thought- 
lessly leaning  when  he  fell  down  into  the 
court.  Upon  these  terraces  or  house  tops,  the 
inhabitants  dry  linen  and  flax,  Josh.  ii.  6,  and 
as  a  late  traveller  has  observed,  figs  and  rai- 
sins. Here  also  the  families  assemble  to  en- 
joy the  cool  refreshing  breezes  of  the  even- 
ing; and  converse  with  one  another;  to  which 
those  words  of  our  Lord,  Matthew  x.  27,  and 
Luke  xii.  3,  refer:  "  what  ye  hear  in  the  ear, 
that  preach  ye  upon  the  house  tops."  "  And 
that  which  ye  have  spoken  in  the  ear  in  clo- 
sets, shall  be  proclaimed  upon  the  house 
tops:"  on  the  terrace  they  frequently  offer  up 
their  devotions;  here  Peter  prayed,  Acts  x.  9, 
and  afterwards  M  fell  into  a  trance. "  In  the 
feast  of  tabernacles,  booths  were  erected, 
Neh.  viii.  16,  upon  the  roofs,  along  which,  (as 
we  have  already  hinted)  when  the  cities  are 
built  upon  level  ground,  there  is  a  passage 


58  ON  THE  HOUSES 

from  the  city  gate  at  one  end  of  the  place,  to 
a  similar  gate  at  the  other,  without  any  ne- 
cessary communication  with  the  street.  The 
inhabitants  sometimes  sleep  upon  the  roof. 
Here  also  the  idolatrous  kings  and  people  of 
Judah,  (see  Jeremiah  xix.  13,  and  xxxii.  29.) 
worshipped  "  the  Host  of  Heaven,"  and  "of- 
fered incense  unto  Baal,  and  poured  out  drink- 
offerings  unto  other  gods." 

Sometimes  a  small  room  is  built  over  the 
porch  and  set  apart  for  strangers;  or  for  oc- 
casional privacy  and  retirement;  such  seems 
to  have  been  the  little  chamber  built  by  the 
Shunamite  for  Elisha,  2  Kings  iv.  10,  and  the 
summer  chamber  of  Eglon,  through  which 
Ehud  escaped,  Judges  iii.  23,  24,  after  he  had 
killed  the  Moabitish  king,— and  the  chamber 
over  the  gate  where  David  retired  to  weep 
for  Absalom,  2  Sam.  xviii.  33,  from  the  roof 
of  which  Ms  watchman,  verse  24,  described 
the  man  running  alone:  such  also  might  be 
the  chamber  where  Tabitha  was  laid  after 
death,  Acts  ix.  37,  and  particularly  that  in 
the  third  loft,  (or  gallery)  from  the  window 
of  which  Eutychus  fell  down,  Acts,  xx.  9. 

The  eastern  mode  of  building,  helps  us  to 
account  for  the  particular  structure  of  the 


OF  THE  EAST.  .89 

house  of  Dagon,  Judges  xvi.  25,  and  the  great 
number  that  were  slain  when  Samson  pulled 
down  the  pillars,  by  which  the  galleries  and 
part  of  the  roof  were  supported.  In  the  Dey 
of  Algiers'  palace,  which  is  a  structure  en- 
closing an  open  court,  like  that  we-have  here 
depicted,  such  entertainments  as  the  lords  of 
the  Philistines  gave  in  the  house  of  Dagon,  are 
frequently  given;  at  which  times  the  galleries 
and  roof  are  crowded  with  spectators  pressing 
upon  each  other  to  look  down  into  the  court, 
where  persons  are  placed,  like  Samson,  "  to 
make  them  sport:"  and  hence  the  destruction 
that  ensued  when  he  pulled  the  pillars  from 
beneath  the  Philistines,  which  must  have  pre- 
cipitated them  headlong  into  the  court. 

We  shall  now  request  the  attention  of  our 
readers  to  the  open  court  itself,  to  inform  them 
that  as  the  heat  is  excessive  in  those  coun- 
tries, a  curtain  or  awning  is  spread  over  it 
from  battlement  to  battlement,  to  exclude  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  and  is,  therefore,  called  the 
court  veil,  or  curtain.  To  this  David  beauti- 
fully alludes,  Psalm  civ.  2,  "  who  stretchest 
out  the  heavens  like  a  curtain."  This  court 
is  strewed  with  mats  and  carpets  for  the  re- 
ception of  large  companies,  which  are  seldom 


40  ON  THE  HOUSES  OF  THE  EAST. 

admitted  into  any  apartment  of  the  house  it- 
self.    This  strengthens  many  other  obvious 
reasons  for  concluding  that  our  blessed  Re- 
deemer and  his  apostles,  frequently  taught  in 
these  open  areas,  or  courts;  and  that  at  least 
he  was  preaching  in  one  of  them  at  the  heal- 
ing of  the  paralytic :  so  that  the  uncovering 
and  breaking  up  of  the  roof,  Mark  ii.  4,  and 
letting  the  paralytic  down  through  the  tiling, 
as  it  has  been  translated,  in  conformity  with 
our  ideas  of  houses,  means  nothing  more  than 
the  removing  or  taking  up  of  the  curtain, 
court  veil,  or  awning,  and  letting  the  sick  per- 
son down  upon  his  bed  into  the  court  beneath. 
It  is  probable,   therefore,  that  those  words, 
Luke  v.  19,  "into  the  midst,"  refer  to  the 
centre  of  such  a  court,  area,  or  quadrangle.   It 
appears  from  the  same  verse,  that  the  bearers 
could  not  directly  approach  our  Lord  "  for  the 
press,"  but  if  the  paralytic  could  not  be  car- 
ried wp  the  stairs  through  the  crowd,  he  might 
easily  be  taken  to  the  house  top  from  the  ad- 
joining terraces,  and  from  thence  be  let  down 
over  the  battlements,  "  into  the  midst  (of  the 
court)  before  Jesus." 


42 


43 


ANCIENT  ATTITUDE  AT  TABLE. 

The  reclining  attitude  here  represented,  as 
having  been  anciently  used  at  table,  appears 
to  us  to  be  extremely  inconvenient,  and  yet 
we  have  abundant  evidence  that  it  actually 
was  adopted  by  both  Greeks  and  Romans,  and 
we  also  find  it  often  alluded  to  by  the  four 
evangelists. 

The  reader  is  desired  to  notice  first,  the 
construction  of  the  table,  which  consists  of 
three  tables,  so  set  together  as  to  form  but  one. 
Secondly,  around  these  tables  are  placed  no 
seats,  but  as  it  were  couches  or  beds,  one  to 
each  table;  each  of  these  beds  being  united  to 
surround  the  three  tables;  at  the  end  of  each 
was  a  foot-stool  for  the  conveniency  of  mount- 
ing up  to  it;  these  beds  were  formed  of  mat- 
tresses stuffed,  and  were  supported  upon 
frames  of  wood,  which  were  often  highly  or- 
namented. Thirdly,  observe  the  attitude  of 
the  guests,  each  reclines  on  his  left  elbow,  and 
therefore  chiefly  uses  his  right  hand,  that  only 


44     ANCIENT  ATTITUDE  AT  TABLE. 

being  free  for  use:  observe  also,  that  the  feet 
of  the  person  reclining  being  towards  the  ex- 
ternal edge  of  the  bed,  they  were  much  more 
readily  reached  by  any  body  passing,  than  any 
other  part  of  the  person  so  reclining.  The 
way  for  the  service  of  the  tables  appears  left 
open  in  the  front,  the  table  being  enclosed  at 
one  end,  and  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  when 
the  tables  were  withdrawn,  the  couches  might 
remain. 

For  want  of  proper  discrimination  and  des- 
cription, in  respect  to  the  attitude  at  table, 
several  passages  of  the  gospel  are  not  merely 
injured  as  to  their  true  sense,  but  appear  to  be 
absolute  nonsense;  in  the  thirty-seventh  and 
thirty-eighth  verses  of  the  seventh  chapter  of 
St.  Luke,  «  a  woman  in  the  city,  which  was  a 
sinner,  when  she  knew  that  Jesus  sat  at  meat 
in  the  Pharisee's  house,  brought  an  alabaster 
box  of  ointment,  and  stood  at  his  feet  behind 
him  weeping;  and  began  to  wash  his  feet  with 
tears,  and  did  wipe  them  with  the  hairs  of  her 
head,  and  kissed  his  feet,  and  anointed  them 
with  the  ointment."  Now,  when  a  person  sits 
at  meat,  according  to  those  ideas,  which  natu- 


ANCIENT  ATTITUDE  AT  TABLE.      45 

rally  suggest  themselves  to  an  English  reader 
of  the  passage,  his  feet,  beside  being  on  the 
floor  under  the  table,  are  before  him  and  not 
behind  him;  and  the  impossibility  of  a  person 
standing  at  his  feet  behind  him,  standing  too, 
to  kiss  his  feet  and  to  wipe  them,  is  glaring. 
However,  by  inspecting  our  print,  the  narra- 
tion becomes  intelligible,  for  the  feet  of  a  re- 
cumbent person  being  outermost,  must  of 
course,  be  easily  accessible  to  any  person  stand- 
ing behind  them.  The  same  observations  apply 
to  the  second  and  third  verses  of  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  St.  John,  "  Lazarus  was  one  who 
sat,  that  is  reclined  at  table  with  Jesus,  and 
Mary  anointed  the  feet  of  Jesus. " 

Assisted  by  these  ideas,  we  may  better  un- 
derstand the  history  of  our  Lord's  washing 
his  disciples'  feet,  John  xiii.  verse  5;  "he  pour- 
eth  water  into  a  basin,  and  going  round  the 
beds  whereon  the  disciples  reclined,  he  began 
to  wash  the  disciples'  feet,  which  lay  on  the 
external  edge  of  the  couch,  and  to  wipe  them 
with  the  towel  where  with  he  was  girded;" 
again  at  the  twelfth  verse, "  after  he  had  taken 
his  garments  and  was  reclined  again,  he  said, 


46     ANCIENT  ATTITUDE  AT  TABLE. 

&c."  It  would  perhaps  be  overstraining  our 
remarks,  to  apply  them  to  any  of  those  slighter 
incidents  recorded  in  sacred  history,  which 
we  therefore  leave  as  an  exercise  for  our  young 
readers  5  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  proper  to  no- 
tice, how  justly  the  beloved  disciple  John 
might  be  said  "  to  lie  in  Jesus'  bosom"  at  the 
supper  table,  since  this  will  clearly  appear  by 
inspecting  the  position  of  the  guests  in  our 
plate. 


48 


Mode  of  Sitting  in  the  East 


49 


ON  THE  MODE  OF  SITTING  IN  THE  EAST. 

In  the  last  account  we  endeavoured  to  illu&v 
trate  the  ancient  mode  of  sitting  at  table;  and 
to  complete  the  subject,  we  here  present  our 
readers  with  a  sketch  and  description  of  the 
common  mode  of  sitting  in  the  east. 

The  expression  sitting  in  our  translation  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures,  is  applied  to  different 
attitudes;  and  we  here  propose  to  show  what 
that  kind  of  sitting  is,  which  ordinarily  pre- 
vails among  oriental  nations. 

The  place  for  sitting  is  a  kind  of  raised  set- 
tle, bench,  or  elevated  floor,  about  two  feet 
high,  running  along  one  or  more  sides  of  a 
roOm,  extending  about  three  feet  from  the 
wall,  and  covered  with  a  carpet  or  scarlet 
cloth.  This  raised  floor  is  called  the  Duan 
or  Divan.  The  cushions,  which  are  set  up- 
right along  the  wall,  reach  in  that  position  to 
the  arms  of  the  person  sitting,  as  in  the  pre- 
c  eding  representation.  They  are  ornamented 
with  flowers,  embroidery,  or  brocade;  and 
are  made  of  such  sizes  as  can  be  conveniently 
removed;  hence  one  cushion  will  not  serve  the 
whole  side  of  a  room:  eo  that  several  are 
joined  together  for  that  purpose. 


50  ON  THE  MODE  OF 

The  figure  here  represented,  occupies  the 
corner,  which  is  the  place  of  honour  in  the 
east,  probably,  because  the  best  adapted  for 
ease  in  leaning,  by  the  opportunity  it  presents 
of  reclining  upon  two  cushions  at  once.  The 
attitude  of  the  person  sitting,  is  usually  by 
crossing  the  legs,  and  folding  them  under  the 
body:  sometimes  varying  the  posture  by  fold- 
ing one  leg  only,  or  principally,  and  sitting 
upon  the  heel  of  it,  leaning  upon  the  cushion 
behind.  The  celebrated  traveller  Niebuhr 
says,  "  As  the  floors  are  spread  with  carpets, 
and  cushions  are  laid  round  the  walls,  one 
cannot  sit  down  without  inconvenience  on 
the  ground ;  and  the  use  of  chairs  is  unknown 
in  the  east. 

"The  Arabians  practice  several  different 
modes  of  sitting.  When  they  wish  to  be  very 
much  at  their  ease,  they  cross  their  legs  under 
the  body.  I  found,  indeed,  by  experience,  that 
this  mode  of  sitting  is  the  most  commodious 
for  people  who  wear  long  clothes  and  wide 
lower  garments  without  any  confining  liga- 
tures, and  appears  to  afford  better  rest  after 
fatigue,  than  our  posture  of  sitting  upon  chairs. 
In  the  presence  of  superiors,  (see  1  Chron. 


SITTING  IN  THE  EAST.  .  51 

xvii.  16,  where  David  is  said  to  have  *  sat  be- 
fore the  Lord,')  an  Arab  sits  with  his  two 
knees  touching  each  other,  with  the  weight  of 
his  body  resting  upon  his  heels:  and  as  in  this 
position  a  person  occupies  less  room  than  in 
any  other,  this  is  their  usual  posture  at  table: 
I  often  tried  it$  but  found  it  so  extremely  un- 
easy, that  I  could  never  acquire  the  habit." 

As  it  is  our  particular  wish  to  illustrate,  as 
far  as  we  are  able,  those  scripture  phrases  which 
relate  to  customs  that  are  unusual  to  our  young 
readers,  and  which  they  cannot,  therefore,  pro- 
perly understand,  we  shall  now  observe  how 
easily  the  cushion  and  carpet  which  form  this 
kind  of  seat  are  carried,  so  that  even  in  a  tent 
it  may  be  instantly  prepared.  It  appears  that 
the  cushion  is  not  sat  upon  but  against,  so  that 
to  prepare  a  seat,  as  mentioned  in  the  seventh 
verse  of  the  twenty-ninth  chapter  of  Job,  may 
be  well  understood  of  laying  a  carpet  and 
placing  a  cushion  upon  it.  And  it  explains 
also  the  sixth  verse  of  the  fourth  chapter  of  St. 
John,  where  **  Jesus  being  weary  with  his 
journey,  sat  thus  on  the  wellj"  that  is,  he 
leaned  accordingly  like  a  weary  person 
against  the  side  of  the  well. 


B%  .  SITTING  IN  THE  EAST. 

Perhaps  the  youthful  reader  never  yet  has 
understood  the  true  attitude  assumed  by  the 
dying  Jacob,  when  the  sons  of  Joseph  were 
brought  to  receive  his  blessing;  "he  strength- 
ened himself,  and  sat  upon  the  bed" — the  duan; 
and,  after  blessing  his  grandsons — "  gathered 
up  his  feet,"  not  into  the  bed,  but  drew  them 
upon  the  duan.  This  also  explains  the  atti- 
tude of  Ahaz,  (1  Kings  xxi.  4,)  "He  laid 
him  down  upon  his  bed  and  turned  away  his 
face."  Also,  how  Hezekiah  (2  Kings  xx.  2,) 
"turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and  prayed." 
Also,  how  Haman,  (Esther  vii.  8,)  not  only 
"stood  up  to  make  request  for  his  life,"  but 
was  fallen  on  the  bed — the  duan — whereon 
Esther  was."  Finally,  the  above  explanation 
completely  illustrates  the  nature  of  Saul's  or- 
der to  bring  up  David  to  him  on  the  bed,  that 
he  might  kill  him,  1  Sam.  xix.  15. 

Further  citations  cannot  here  be  introduced: 
but  lie  that  follows  up  this  interesting  subject 
for  himself,  will  reap  great  satisfaction  in  the 
light  which  it  tends  to  throw  upon  many  other 
parts  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 


54 


View  of  Bethlehem. 


55 


VIEW  OF  BETHLEHEM. 

Bethlehem,  or  the  House  of  Bread,  so 
often  mentioned  in  the  Word  of  God,  is  prin- 
cipally remarkable  for  the  nativity  of  our 
Blessed  Lord,  Matt.  ii.  5,  6,  John  vii.  42;  it 
is  six  miles  south  from  Jerusalem.  The  town 
covers  the  summit  of  a  long  and  lofty  hill,  on 
the  southern  side  of  a  deep  and  extensive  val- 
ley, in  which  valley  the  celebrated  traveller, 
Dr.  E.  D.  Clark,  believes  he  found  that  re- 
markable well,  for  the  water  of  which  David 
longed,  when  he  said,  1  Chron.  xi.  17,  "Oh! 
that  one  would  give  me  drink  of  the  water  of 
the  well  of  Bethlehem  that  is  at  the  gate." 

The  well  appears  to  retain  its  original  re- 
nown, and  many  an  expatriated  Bethlehemite 
has  since  made  it  the  theme  of  his  longing  and 
regret.  To  the  left,  on  the  neighbouring  hill, 
a  monastery,  resembling  a  vast  fortress,  co- 
vers the  spot  which  is  shown  as  the  cave  of 
the  Nativity.     It  is  remarkable,  that  as  the 


56  VIEW  OF  BETHLEHEM. 

vanquisher  of  Goliath  was  a  native  of  Bethle- 
hem, so  Elhanan,  who  slew  the  brother  of  that 
Philistine,  was  likewise  a  Bethlehemite. 

Near  Bethlehem,  Rachel  was  buried,  Gen. 
xlviii.  7,  and  lbzan,  one  of  the  Judges  of  Is- 
rael, Judges  xii.  10, — Naomi  and  her  two 
sons,  Ruth  i.  1,  and  David  the  great  king  of 
Israel,  were  all  natives  of  this  place,  which 
was,  therefore,  of  considerable  note,  before  it 
became  so  universally  celebrated  for  the  in- 
carnation of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


58 


Eastern  Bottles, 


59 


ON  THE  EASTERN  BOTTLES. 

This  is  a  representation  of  the  bottles  men- 
tioned in  the  word  of  God;  which  among  the 
ancient  Jews,  were  made  of  goats'  or  wild 
beasts'  skins,  with  thehair  on  the  inside,  well 
sewed  and  pitched  together;  an  aperture  in 
one  of  the  animal's  paws  serving  for  the  mouth 
of  the  vessel.  Bottles  of  this  kind  are  still 
used  for  carrying  water  through  the  deserts 
of  Arabia  and  other  countries,  where  springs 
and  streams  are  scarce,  and  have  been  in  com- 
mon use  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times. 

The  vessels,  however,  which  are  called  bot- 
tles in  our  translation  of  the  old  Testament, 
are  signified  by  different  terms  in  the  original, 
and  were  of  various  and  different  materials. 
Thus  in  Gen.  xxi.  14,  the  "  bottles"  of  water 
tiiven  by  Abraham  to  Hagar,  is  in  the  original 
called,  Chemeth,  which  denotes  an  earthen 
pitcher,  although  Sir  John  Chardin  supposes 
it  to  have  been  a  leathern  vessel :  and  from 
Habakkuk  ii.  15,  it  appears  that  the  Hebrews 


60  EASTERN  BOTTLES. 

were  accustomed  to  drink  out  of  these  che- 
meths.  The  bottle  of  wine  which  Samuel's 
mother  brought  to  Eli,  (1  Sam.  i.  24,)  is  call- 
ed nubel,  and  was  probably  an  earthen  jar  or 
jug.  The  same  word  is  also  used  in  1  Sam. 
x.  3,  and  2  Sam.  xvi.  1;  but  the  term  trans- 
lated earthen  bottles  in  Jer,  xix.  1,  is  bakbek. 
A  very  different  word  *is  used  in  Judges  iv. 
19,  to  signify  the  vessel  out  of  which  Jael  gave 
milk  to  Sisera;  \t  is  called  naud;  which  hav- 
ing some  reference  to  moist  or  oozing,  was 
probably  made  of  goat  skin,  or  the  skin  of 
some  animal;  and  being  constantly  kept  full 
of  milk,  was  preserved  in  a  pliant  state.  The 
same  word  is  also  used  to  denote  the  bottle  in 
which  Jesse  sent  wine  by  David  to  Saul,  1 
Sam.  xvi.  20.  Naud  signifies  also  the  bottle 
into  which  the  Psalmist  (Psalm  lvi.  8.)  de- 
sires that  his  tears  might  be  collected,  and 
that  to  which  he  compares  himself,  Psalm 
cxix.  83;  he  says,  "I  am  become  like  a  bot- 
tle in  the  smoke,"  that  is,  like  a  bottle  kept 
in  the  tents  of  the  Arabs,  blackened  with 
smoke.  To  the  meanness  of  such  a  drinking 
as  a  goat's  skin  bottle,  as  well  as  to  the 


EASTERN  BOTTLES.  (ft 

blackness  contracted  in  the  Arab  tent,  the 
Psalmist  probably  refers,  and  it  was  a  most 
natural  image  for  him  to  use:  driven  from 
among  the  vessels  of  silver  and  gold  in  the 
palace  of  Israel,  to  live  as  the  Arabs  did,  and 
consequently  to  be  obliged  frequently  to  drink 
out  of  a  smoked  leathern  bottle.  The  word 
used  by  Job,  chap,  xxxii.  19,  is  abuth,  the 
plural  of  aub,  which  signifies,  in  general,  to 
swell  or  distend,  and  properly  expresses  a 
skin  bottle,  which  would  be  apt  to  swell  by 
pouring  liquor  into  it;  and  would  be  distend- 
ed, and  burst  at  last,  if  it  had  no  vent,  and 
the  liquor  happened  to  be  in  a  state  of  fer- 
mentation.— From  which  we  perceive  the  pro- 
priety of  putting  new  wine  into  new  bottles, 
according  to  the  appropriate  allusion  in  Matt. 
ix.  17.  Mark  ii.  22.  Luke  v.  37,  38,  which 
being  moist  and  strong,  would  resist  the  fer- 
mentation and  preserve  the  wine;  whereas 
old  bottles  of  this  kind,  being  more  dry  and 
brittle,  would  be  in  danger  of  bursting,  and 
were  best  adapted  to  receive  old  wine  which 
had  ceased  to  ferment.  The  sacred  historian, 
Joshua  ix.  4,  not  only  supposes  these  bottles 


EASTERN  BOTTLES. 


to  be  frequently  rent,  when  grown  old  and 
much  used,  but  to  admit  of  being  repaired. 
They  are  mentioned  by  Homer,  Virgil,  Sal- 
lust,  and  Horace;  nor  have  they  escaped  the 
observation  of  modern  travellers.  The  Arabs, 
says  Sir  John  Chardin,and  all  those  who  lead 
a  wandering  life,  keep  their  water,  milk,  and 
other  liquors  in  these  bottles,  which  will  pre- 
serve their  contents  fresher  than  any  other 
kind  of  vessel.     They  are  made,  he  says,  of 
goat  skins;  when  the  animal  is  killed,  they 
cut  off  its  feet  and  its  head,  and  so  draw  off 
the  skin  without  opening  the  belly.     The 
places  where  the  legs  and  tail  were  cut  off, 
are  afterwards  sewn  up,  and  when  it  is  filled, 
they  tie  it  about  the  neck.     These  nations, 
and  the  country  people  of  Persia,  never  go  a 
journey  without  a  small  leathern  bottle  of 
water,  hanging  by  their  side  like  a  scrip.  The 
great  leathern  bottles  are  made  of  the  skin  of 
a  she  goat,  and  the  small  ones  that  serve  to 
hold  water  on  the  road,  of  a  kid  skin.     The 
same  traveller  says,  that  the  Persians  find  lea- 
them  bottles  useful  in  keeping  water  fresh, 
especially  if  they  take  care  to  moisten  them, 


EASTERN  BOTTLES.  63 

when  travelling,  wherever  they  can  find  wa- 
ter;  the  evaporation  serving  to  keep  the  wa- 
ter cool.  He  adds,  that  the  disagreeable  taste 
of  the  leather  is  taken  off,  by  causing  it  to 
imbibe  rose  water,  when  it  is  new,  and  be- 
fore it  is  applied  to  use.  The  Persians  are 
said  formerly  to  have  perfumed  these  leathern 
vessels  with  mastic  or  with  incense.  From 
him  also  we  learn,  that  they  put  into  these 
goat  skin  and  kid  skin  vessels,  every  thing 
which  they  have  to  carry  to  any  distance,  whe- 
ther dry  goods  or  liquids,  which  are  thus  pre- 
served from  insects  and  dust,  besides  being 
kept  very  fresh ;  and  therefore  butter,  honey, 
cheese,  and  similar  articles  are  enclosed  in 
vessels  made  of  the  skins  of  these  animals. 

The  presents  which  Jacob's  sons  carried  to 
their  brother  Joseph,  Gen.  xliii.  11,  particu- 
larly the  balm  and  honey,  were,  therefore,  pro- 
bably forwarded  in  little  vessels  made  of  kid 
skins:  to  which  mode  of  transporting  provi- 
sions, Homer  somewhere  refers. 

The  bottles  made  of  skin,  resemble  the 
"  Girba"  described  by  Mr.  Bruce  in  his  tra- 
vels  through  Abyssinia,   vol.  iv.  p.   334. — 


64  EASTERN  BOTTLES. 

"This,"  he  says,  "is  an  ox's  skin  square, 
and  the  edges  sewed  together  very  artificially 
by  a  double  seam,  which  does  not  let  out  water, 
much  resembling  that  upon  the  best  English 
cricket  balls.  An  opening  is  left  at  the  top, 
like  the  bung  of  a  cask:  around  this  hole  the 
skin  is  gathered  to  the  size  of  a  large  hand- 
ful, which  is  tied  round  with  whipcord  when 
the  vessel  is  filled.  These  girbas  contain 
about  sixty  gallons  each,  and  two  of  them  are 
the  load  of  a  camel.  They  are  all  besmeared 
on  the  outside  with  grease,  as  well  to  hinder 
the  water  from  oozing  through,  as  to  prevent 
its  being  evaporated  by  the  action  of  the  sun 
upon  the  skin,  which,  in  fact,  happened  to  us 
twice,  so  as  to  put  us  in  imminent  danger  of 
perishing  with  thirst" 


66 


Ancient  Books  and  Scrolls. 


67 


ON  THE  FORMS  OF  ANCIENT  BOOKS  AND 
SCROLLS, 

Particularly  tlwse  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures. 

We  here  present  our  youthful  readers  with 
the  form  of  an  ancient  book,  as  held  with  both 
hands  by  a  young  man,  who  is  supposed  to  be 
reading  it  with  great  earnestness.  It  is  pro- 
bably meant  for  some  serious  treatise.  The 
form  of  the  page,  and  the  direction  of  the 
separating  column  are  distinctly  marked,  and 
clearly  show  that  it  was  read  down  the  narrow 
way  of  the  roll,  one  end  of  the  book  being 
rolled  inward,  and  the  other  outward.  It  is 
evident  that  these  books  might  be  very  small, 
so  that  when  the  prophet  Ezekiel  and  St.  John 
were  directed  to  eat  a  book,  it  was  by  no  means 
a  folio  that  was  presented  to  them,  for  that 
mentioned  in  the  Revelations  is  expressly  call- 
ed a  little  booh,  and  might  be  much  less  than 
the  one  here  represented.  Books  are  often, 
but  not  always,  spoken  of  as  rolls  in  Scrip- 
ture,    The  action  of  unrolling  and  rolling  up 


68  OF  THE  FORMS  OF 

again  a  book,  is  evidently  attributed  to  our 
Lord  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  St.  Luke,  where 
it  is  said,  at  the  seventeenth  verse:  "and  when 
he  had  opened  the  book,  he  found  the  place 
where  it  was  written,*'  or  literally,  and  un- 
rolling the  hook  he  found  the  passage,  from 
whence  it  should  seem  that  he  might  not  open 
it  at  that  very  passage,  but  might  have  un- 
rolled the  book  till  he  came  to  that  part  of 
Isaiah's  prophecy,  there  quoted.  This  is  con- 
firmed by  what  is  afterwards  said  at  the 
twentieth  verse:  "And  he  closed  the  book, 
and  he  gave  it  to  the  minister;"  or,  so  rolling 
up  the  booh  he  gave  it  to  the  servant  of  the 
Synagogue. 

Several  sorts  of  materials  were  anciently 
used  in  making  books:  plates  of  lead  and  cop- 
per, the  barks  of  trees,  bricks,  stone,  and  even 
wood,  were  the  first  materials  employed  to 
engrave  those  things  upon,  which  men  desired 
to  transmit  to  posterity.  Josephus  the  Jewish 
historian,  speaks  of  two  columns,  one  of  brick, 
on  which  the  children  of  Seth  wrote,  or  en- 
graved their  inventions  and  astronomical  dis- 
coveries.   Porphyry  mentions   some    pillars 


ANCIENT  BOOKS  AND  SCROLLS.      69 

preserved  in  Crete,  on  which  the  sacrifices  %f 
the  Corybantes  were  recorded.  Hesiod's  works 
were  originally  written  upon  tables  of  lead; 
the  laws  of  Solon  upon  wooden  planks;  and 
the  Ten  Commandments  delivered  to  Moses, 
upon  stone. 

Tables  of  boxwood  and  ivory  were  common 
among  the  ancients;  and  their  wooden  tablets 
were  frequently  covered  with  wax,  that  they 
might  easily  write,  and  if  they  pleased,  after- 
wards erase  what  they  had  written.  The 
leaves  of  the  palm-tree  were  afterwards  used 
instead  of  wooden  tablets,  together  with  the 
finest  and  thinest  part  of  the  bark  of  trees, 
such  as  the  lime,  the  ash,  the  maple,  and  the 
elm;  and  as  these  barks  were  rolled  up  in  or- 
der to  be  removed  with  greater  ease,  the  rolls 
were  called  volumina,  or  volumes,  a  name 
afterwards  generally  applied  to  rolls  of  paper 
or  parchment. 

The  other  two  figures  represent  an  ancient 
inkstand  and  pen.  The  inkstand  consists  of 
two  parts,  one  for  red,  and  the  other  for  black 
ink,  one  of  which  is  shut,  and  the  other  open 


70  ON  THE  FORMS  OF 

The  pen  is  a  reed  of  considerable  length  and 
magnitude.  Whether  the  bands  round  it  are 
merely  joints  of  the  reed,  or  something  added 
to  strengthen  it,  is  not  certain,  but  probably 
the  latter,  and  the  reader  should  be  informed, 
that  these  representations  are  copied  from 
some  ancient  pictures  dug  out  of  the  ruins  of 
Herculaneum,  a  once  famous  city  of  Italy, 
which  was  destroyed  by  an  eruption  of  Mount 
Vesuvius,  A.  D.  79. 

We  cannot  close  this  brief  illustration  with- 
out calling  the  attention  of  our  young  friends 
to  an  important  fact.  The  books  of  the  an- 
cients were,  of  course,  all  manuscript,  and 
were  therefore  scarce  and  dear.  The  current 
of  knowledge  was  consequently  confined  to  a 
very  narrow  channel,  and  until  the  invention 
of  printing,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  books  could  only  be  procured  by  a 
few  wealthy  persons;  a  Bible  could  scarcely 
be  obtained  for  less  than  thirty  pounds  sterling; 
but,  since  that  providential  invention,  books 
have  gradually  become  more  plentiful,  and 
consequently  cheaper,  until  at  length  the  Sa- 


ANCIENT  BOOKS  AND  SCROLLS.  71 

cred  Scriptures  may  be  obtained  for  a  very 
small  sum,  and  useful  information  of  every 
kind  at  a  moderate  expense. 

How  then  ought  we  to  prize  the  inestimable 
advantages  we  enjoy;  how  sedulously  improve 
our  opportunities  of  becoming  wise  unto  salva- 
tion, and  performing  our  respective  duties  in 
the  present  life?  Reader,  be  diligent  in  busi- 
ness, fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord,  since 
for  all  these  things,  he  will  bring  thee  into 
judgment 


72 


73 


ON  THE  TENTS  MENTIONED  IN  SCRIPTURE, 

The  Patriarchs  lived  in  temporary  dwell- 
ings of  various  kinds.  These  dwellings  were 
slightly  constructed  for  temporary  residence, 
so  as  to  be  put  up  and  taken  down  with  great 
despatch.  Such  were  their  tents  of  various 
forms  and  sizes.  Some  of  them  were  large 
and  commodious;  others  small  and  inconve- 
nient; some  mean  and  some  magnificent. 

That  tents  were  set  apart  for  the  different 
sexes,  appears  from  Gen.  xxiv.  67,  where  it  is 
said  Isaac  brought  Rebecca  into  his  mother 
Sarah's  tent;  and  from  Gen.  xxxi.  33,  where 
we  learn  that  Laban  went  into  Jacob's, 
Leah's,  and  into  the  in  aid-servant's  tent. 

A  tent  may  be  made  more  capacious  by 
raising  and  further  opening  or  extending  it; 
and  strengthened  by  driving  the  stakes  deeper 
into  the  ground.  Hence  Isaiah,  liv.  2,  says 
"  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent,  and  let  them 
stretch  forth  the  curtains  of  thy  habitations; 
spare  not,  lengthen  thy  cords,  and  strengthen 


74  TENTS  MENTIONED 

thy  stakes. "  One  of  these  stakes,  nails,  or 
tent-pins  Jael  drove  through  Sisera's  temples 
until  she  fixed  it  in  the  earth,  Judges  iv.  21.  A 
wooden  pin  could  scarcely  have  been  hard 
enough  for  this  cruel  purpose,  or  for  penetrat- 
ing hard  earth,  gravel,  &c.  and  hence  there 
is  little  doubt  that  these  stakes  were  of  brass, 
or  of  iron. 

The  dream  of  the  Midianite,  who  thought 
he  saw  a  loaf  of  barley  bread  overturn  a  tent, 
either  tends  to  prove  that  they  were  very 
slightly  held  by  their  cords  and  pins,  or  that 
the  loaf  which  overturned  it,  was  impelled  by 
an  irresistible  force,  see  Judges  vii.  13. — He- 
zekiah,  in  Isaiah  xxxviii.  12,  exclaims,  "  Mine 
age  is  departed,  and  is  removed  from  me  as  a 
shepherd's  tent. "  This  strongly  intimates  the 
wandering  lives  they  led,  and  the  shortness  of 
their  stay  in  any  place. 

Tents  are  to  this  day  used  in  travelling 
through  the  deserts  of  Asia,  see  the  view  of 
Mount  Tabor,  page  91.  They  vary  in  their 
colours;  for  the  coverings  were  sometimes 
formed  of  rams'  or  goats'  skins,  and  of  goats' 
hair,  and  were  sometimes  quite  black,  as  are 


IN  SCRIPTURE.  75 

those  of  the  Arabians,  to  which  thn  Spouse, 
Cant.  i.  5,  alludes,  where  she  says,  "  I  am 
black  as  the  tents  of  Kedar;  that  is,  Arabia. 
Such,  in  all  probability,  was  the  tent  spread  by 
Jacob,  Gen.  xxxiii.  18 — 19,  in  the  field  he 
bought  of  Shechem's  father. 

The  words  "  every  man  to  his  tents,  0  Is- 
rael," (see  2  Samuel  xx.  1,  and  1  Kings  xii. 
16,)  were  invitations  to  the  Israelites  to  leave 
their  cities,  and  take  the  field  in  war.  It  was 
the  ancient  way  of  summoning  the  people  to 
arms,  and  hence  we  plainly  see  that  at  that 
time,  tents  had  ceased  to  be  the  only  kind  of 
dwelling  in  use,  though  Acts  xviii.  3,  shows 
that  down  to  the  time  of  the  apostles,  tents, 
at  least  that  portable  sort  suitable  for  travel- 
lers, were  still  used. 

There  is  strong  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
occupation,  at  which  Paul  and  Aquila  wrought, 
means  either  tent-making  literally,  as  we  have 
translated  it;  or  something  similar  to  the  trade 
of  a  house  carpenter  among  us,  which  would 
very  probably  also  include  the  business  of 
tent-making  among  the  nations  of  the  east. 

The  prophet  Isaiah  xiii.  20,  seems  to  lay 


76         TENTS  MENTIONED  IN  SCRIPTURE. 

great  stress  on  one  token  of  the  total  ruin  of 
Babylon,  by  saying,  "  neither  shall  the  Ara- 
bian pitch  tent  there ;  neither  shall  shepherd 
dwell  there:"  as  if  he  had  exclaimed,  not  even 
a  solitary  shepherd,  a  wandering  Arab,  the 
transitory  resident  of  an  hour!  The  same  in- 
spired writer,  xl.  22,  says,  "  he  stretched  out 
the  Heavens  as  a  curtain,  and  spreadeth  them 
out  as  a  tent  to  dwell  in."  This  idea  strik- 
ingly applies  to  a  circular  tent  like  that  here 
presented  to  our  readers.  It  is  equally  ex- 
panded all  round.  It  can  be  opened  or  folded 
up,  spread  out,  or  rolled  together  like  a 
scroll;  and  in  this  state,  "  spanned  by  the 
hand."     Isaiah  xlviii.  IS. 

The  shaking  of  the  pillars  or  supporters  of 
a  tent,  is  alluded  to  by  Job  xxvi.  11,  where 
he  speaks  of  the  trembling  of  the  pillars  of 
Heaven  at  the  reproof  of  the  Almighty.  This 
explanation  may  serve  also  to  illustrate  many 
similar  figures  that  were  never  intended  to  be 
literally  understood. 


78 


79 


MOUNT  TABOR, 

AS   SEEN   FROM 

THE  GREAT  PLAIN  OF  ESDRAELON. 

The  celebrated  traveller  from  whose  works 
we  have  taken  this  view  of  Mount  Tabor,  was 
prevented  from  visiting  it  by  the  fear  of  being 
plundered  by  the  Arab  banditti,  who  at  that 
time  particularly  infested  the  great  plain  of 
Esdraelon,  upon  one  side  of  which,  Mount 
Tabor  stands.  It  is  entirely  detached  from 
any  other  mountain,  and  appears  of  a  conical 
form,  strongly  resembling  an  island  environed 
by  the  sea.  The  top  consists  of  a  spacious 
and  well  cultivated  level  surface,  inhabited  by 
numerous  Arab  families,  who  subsist  by  pil- 
lage and  robbery,  and  are  the  terror  of  the 
surrounding  countrv. 

This  singular  eminence  is  often  mentioned 
in  Holy  Writ.  Upon  it  the  Midianitish  kings 
slew  the  brethren  of  Gideon,  by  whom  those 
kings  were  afterwards  slain:  Judges  viii.  18 


80  MOUNT  TABOR. 

— 21.  David,  (see  Psalm  lxxxix.  12)  speaks 
of  Mount  Tabor  in  such  terms  as  intimate  that 
it  was  a  remarkable  station  in  his  day,  and 
the  same  idea  is  further  confirmed  by  the  pro- 
phet Jeremiah,  xlvi.  18;  and  by  Hosea,  v.  1, 
who  accuses  the  priests,  king,  and  people  of 
Israel  of  being  like  a  net  spread  upon  Mount 
Tabor;  where  nets  were  employed  to  ensnare 
such  birds  as  were  fit  for  the  table,  which  were 
found  in  great  numbers  in  this  delightful  part 
of  the  Holy  Land. 

On  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  the  most 
fertile  part  of  all  the  land  of  Canaan,  the  tribe 
of  Issachar  rejoiced  in  their  tents:  Deut.  xxxiii. 
1 8.  Here  the  second  of  Samuel's  three  pre- 
dictions was  verified  by  Saul :  1  Samuel  x.  3. 
In  the  first  ages  of  Jewish  history,  as  well  as 
during  the  Roman  Empire,  and  in  the  Cru- 
sades, Holy  Wars  or  Wars  of  the  Cross,  as  they 
were  impiously  called;  which  were  carried  on 
by  the  monarchs  of  Europe  many  hundred 
years  ago,  under  pretence  of  recovering  the 
Holy  Land  from  the  Turks  or  Saracens;  and 
even  in  still  later  times,  it  has  been  the  scene 
of  many  a  memorable  contest.     Here  it  was 


MOUNT  TABOfU  81 

that  Barak  descending  with  his  ten  thousand 
from  Mount  Tabor,  Judges  iv.  6 — 13,  discom- 
fited Sisera  and  "all  his  chariots,  even  nine 
hundred  chariots  of  iron,  and  all  the  people 
that  were  with  him,"  when  "  all  the  host  of 
Sisera  fell  upon  the  edge  of  the  sword,  and 
there  was  not  a  man  left:"  Judges  iv.  13, 15, 
16.  Here  also  it  was  that  Josiah,  king  of  Judah, 
fought  in  disguise  against  Necho  king  of  Egypt 
and  fell  by  the  arrows  of  his  antagonist;  2 
Chron.  xxxv.  20 — 25,  when  so  great  were  the 
lamentations  for  his  death,  that  the  mourning 
for  Josiah  became  an  ordinance  in  Israel.  The 
great  mourning  in  Jerusalem,  foretold  by  Ze- 
chariah,  xii.  11,  is  said  to  be  as  the  lamenta- 
tion in  the  plain  of  Esdraelon;  or,  according 
to  the  language  of  the  prophet,  "  as  the  mourn- 
ing of  Hadadrimmon  in  the  valley  of  Megid- 
don. "  Warriors  belonging  to  almost  every 
country  under  heaven,  have  pitched  their 
tents  upon  the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  and 
beheld  the  various  banners  of  their  nations 
wet  with  the  dews  of  Tabor  and  of  Hermon. 
Josephus,  the  renowned  Jewish  historian, 
often  mentions  this  very  remarkable  part  of 


83  MOUNT  TABOR, 

the  Holy  Land,  and  always  under  the  appel- 
lation of  the  great  plain.  It  has  been  a  chosen 
place  for  encampment  in  every  contest  car- 
ried on  in  this  country,  from  the  days  of 
Nebuchodonosor  king  of  the  Assyrians,  in  the 
history  of  whose  war  with  Arphaxad,  it  is 
mentioned  as  the  great  plain  of  Esdrelom,  see 
Apocrypha,  Judith  i.  8,  down  to  the  disastrous 
march  of  the  French  army  from  Egypt  into 
Syria. 

Like  every  other  part  of  the  Holy  Land,  this 
great  plain  and  celebrated  mountain  afford  in- 
disputable evidence  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible, 
for  they  still  retain  every  mark  of  identity, 
and  are  possessed  by  various  unbelieving  Gen- 
tile nations:  while  the  Jews  who  once  inherit- 
ed them,  are  scattered  all  over  the  habitable 
globe,  according  to  those  awful  predictions 
of  their  own  prophets,  with  which  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  abound. 


84 


The  Caravansera. 


85 


THE  CARAVANSERA. 


Eastern  inns,  or  Caravanseraa,  which  is 
their  Asiatic  name,  are  of  different  kinds. 
Some  are  small  buildings,  placed  generally 
by  the  side  of  a  fountain,  at  proper  distances 
on  the  public  roads,  to  afford  refreshments 
and  a  temporary  shelter  from  the  rain,  or  dur- 
ing the  night.  Such  probably,  was  that  men- 
tioned, Gen.  xlii.  27,  and  xliii.  21,  where  one 
of  Jacob's  sons,  on  their  return  from  Egypt, 
stopped  to  give  provender  to  his  ass,  and 
there  discovered  Joseph's  cup  in  his  sack. 
And  the  same  kind  of  way-side  inn  is  proba- 
bly intended  in  Luke  x.  34,  to  which  the  good 
Samaritan  conveyed  the  poor  object  of  his  pi- 
ous compassion. 

Other  caravanseras  especially  those  in 
towns,  like  that  above  represented,  are  usu- 
ally large  square  buildings,  with  a  court  in  the 
middle  of  them,  encompassed  with  galleries, 
and  having  arches,  or  chambers,  all  round, 
where    travellers   rest   themselves,  or  make 


86  THE  CARAVANSERA. 

their  lodging  as  well  as  they  can.     To  this 
kind  the  evangelist,  Luke  ii.  7,  apparently  re- 
fers, where  he  records  that — "  there  was  no 
room  for  Joseph  and  Mary  in  the  inn,"  that 
is,   that    every  chamber   was  pre-occupied. 
These  chambers  are  generally  let  at  a  high 
rate  by  the  keeper  of  the  caravansera,  although 
they  contain  no  furniture  whatever,  and  this 
(circumstance  alone  will  go  far  to  show  what 
poor  accommodation  those  places  must  have 
afforded  to  the  mother  of  our  blessed  Lord, 
and  in   what   degrading   circumstances   the 
Prince  of  Life  and  Glory  descended  to  appear 
among  men.     It  has  long  been  customary  in 
the  east,   for  travellers  to  carry  their  own 
bedding,  kitchen  utensils,  &c.  and  the  custom 
probably  prevailed  as  far  back  as  the  incarna- 
tion of  our  blessed  Saviour;  but  as  all  the 
chambers  were   then   engaged,    Joseph   and 
Mary  were  obliged  to  accept  of  shelter  in  that 
part  of  the  building  allotted  to  the  beasts,  so 
that,  in  the  words  of  the  inspired  writer — 
"  She  brought  forth  her  first  born  son  and 
laid  him  in  a  manger."     So  low  did  the  Re- 
deemer stoop  to  manifest  his  love  to  us,  and 


THE  OARAVANSERA.  87 

to  effect  the  grand  purpose  of  man's  redemp- 
tion. An  elegant  writer  has  truly  said, 
"  that  pride  is  not  made  for  man, "for  surely, 
if  every  human  being  were  to  consider  the 
cause  of  this  amazing  abasement  on  the  part 
of  him,  who  is  God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever, 
it  would  not  only  eradicate  every  particle  of 
pride,  but  humble  him  in  the  dust  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life. 


88 


THE  TABERNACLE  IN  THE  WILDERNESS, 

The  preceding  is  a  general  view  of  the 
Court  of  the  Tabernacle,  and  of  the  situation 
of  the  various  utensils  it  contained — see 
Exod.  xxv.  We  observe  first  of  all  the  pil- 
lars marking  an  enclosure.  These  pillars 
were  seven  feet  and  a  half  high,  the  enclosure 
they  formed  was  about  150  feet  long,  and  75 
feet  broad.  In  the  centre  of  the  front  appears 
a  kind  of  entrance,  formed  by  hanging  tapes- 
try which  could  be  drawn  up  occasionally, 
like  the  entrance  curtain  to  a  tent.  The  in- 
tervals between  the  other  pillars  are  closed 
by  a  strong  kind  of  net-work,  as  some  render 
the  original  word,  which  in  our  translation, 
Exod.  xxvi.  1,  is  called  fme-twined  linen,  but 
this  was  so  loosely  twined  or  combined,  that 
what  was  transacted  in  the  Court  was  visible 
in  a  considerable  degree,  though  veiled,  to  the 
people  without.  Advancing  to  the  centre  of 
the  Court,  we  find  first  the  altar  of  burnt-of- 
ferings, Exod.  xxvii.  l,and  next  the  laver  for 


90  THE  TABERNACLE 

the  ablutions,  Exod.  xxx.  17, 18,  and  thirdly, 
the  tabernacle  itself,  or  a  kind  of  tent,  to  the 
honour  of  which,  as  the  residence  of  glory  and 
holiness,  the  whole  service  is  referred.  On 
the  right  hand  of  the  Court  are  the  pillars, 
blocks,  &c.  necessary  to  secure  and  slaughter 
the  victims  brought  to  be  offered  on  the  altar. 
We  intend  hereafter  to  call  the  attention 
of  our  readers  more  particularly  to  the  Taber- 
nacle itself,  and  having  introduced  the  above 
sketch,  to  give  them  a  general  idea  of  its  ex- 
ternal appearance,  we  shall  conclude  by  call- 
ing to  their  minds  the  intention  of  Almighty 
God  in  commanding  the  Israelites  to  bring  so 
many  different  kinds  of  offerings  in  order  to 
build  the  Tabernacle,  and  prepare  the  various 
utensils  necessary  for  the  service  thereof — 
see  Exod.  xxvi.  and  xxvii. 

66  God,"  says  Dr.  Clarke,  "  requires  that 
they  (the  Israelites)  should  build  him  a  tent, 
suited  in  some  sort  to  his  dignity  and  emi- 
nence: because  he  was  to  act  as  their  king, 
and  to  dwell  among  themj  and  they  were  to 
consider  themselves  as  his  subjects,  and  in  this 
character  to  bring  him  presents,  which  was 


IN  THE  WILDERNESS.  91 

considered  to  be  the  duty  of  every  subject  ap- 
pearing before  his  prince," — see  Exod.  xxiii. 
15,  the  last  clause  of  which  verse  refers  to  the 
universal  practice  of  eastern  nations  in  bring- 
ing presents  as  a  token  of  submission  and  fi- 
delity to  their  governors,  in  the  words,  a  and 
none  shall  appear  before  me  empty." 


9* 


98 


THE  TABERNACLE. 


In  the  preceding  a  general  view  of  the  Ta- 
bernacle, and  of  the  surrounding  court,  with 
the  various  implements  of  the  Mosaic  rites  and 
ceremonies,  is  introduced.  The  present  sub- 
ject is  the  Tabernacle  itself.  It  was  about 
fifty-five  feet  long,  eighteen  feet  wide,  and 
eighteen  feet  high,  being  divided  into  two 
parts.  (  The  first  part  was  palled  the  Holy 
Place,  which  was  about  thirty-seven  feet  long 
by  eighteen  wide.  In  this  part  were  placed 
the  table  of  shew-bread,  the  golden  candle- 
stick, and  the  golden  altar  of  incense.  The 
second  part  was  called  the  Holiest  of  Holies; 
this  was  eighteen  feet  long  and  as  many  broad, 
and  contained  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  The 
second  part,  called  the  Sanctuary,  or  Holiest 
of  Holies,  was  divided  from  the  holy  place  by 
a  curtain  or  veil,  of  very  rich  cloth,  which 
hung  on  four  pillars  of  shittim  Wood  overlaid 
with  plates  of  gold,  their  bases  being  of  brass. 
On  the  west,  north,  and  south  sides,  the 
Tabernacle  was  enclosed  by  boards  or  planks 


94  THE   TABERNACLE. 

of  the  same  wood  as  the  pillars,  oVerlaid  with 
plates  of  gold,  having  also  bases  of  brass. 
These  boards  were  eight  in  number  on  the 
west  side,  but  twenty  on  the  north  and  south 
sides.  They  were  all  about  eighteen  feet 
high,  and  two  feet  and  a  half  wide,  and  were 
let  into  each  other  by  two  tenons  above  and 
below.  As  the  whole  of  the  Tabernacle  was 
moveable,  and  might  be  taken  down,  these 
boards  were  carried  by  two  bases,  wherein 
were  two  mortice  holes,  by  which  they  were 
joined  together.  To  support  them,  each  had 
five  golden  rings  at  convenient  distances; 
through  which  were  passed  five  poles  of 
shittim  wood,  covered  with  plates  of  gold, 
which  supported  the  whole. 

The  Tabernacle  had  no  window,  but  was 
covered  by  several  curtains,  which  the  sketch 
represents  the  workmen  about  to  fix  in  their 
proper  places.  The  curtain  first  on  the  inside 
was  of  a  hyacinth  colour,  striped  with  purple, 
scarlet,  and  crimson.  Over  this  were  other 
curtains  or  coverings  of  goat's  hair,  which 
defended  the  rich  curtain  before  described 
from  the  sun  and  the  rain.     There  wa9  no  cur- 


THE  TABERNACLE.  95 

tain  in  front,  but  only  on  the  sides,  and  be- 
hind? so  that  at  the  entrance  of  the  Taber- 
nacle, the  first  rich  curtain  afore-mentioned 
might  be  seen,  which  enclosed  the  whole  front. 
Over  these  coverings  of  goat's  hair  were  two 
others:  one  of  sheep  skins  dyed  red,  the  other 
of  sheep  skins  dyed  azure  blue. 

The  priests  entered  the  Holy  place  every 
morning  to  offer  incense,  and  to  put  out  the 
lamps;  and  went  in  every  evening  to  re-light 
them.  The  High  Priests  alone  could  enter 
into  the  Holiest  of  Holies;  and  even  he,  only 
once  a  year,  upon  the  great  day  of  atonement; 
except  in  extraordinary  cases,  in  order  to  con- 
sult the  Lord:  but  he  never  entered  without 
the  deepest  reverence  and  due  preparation. 

The  entrance  of  the  Tabernacle  looked  east, 
the  sanctuary  west,  and  the  two  sides  north  and 
south.  This  tent  was,  as  it  were,  the  dwelling 
of  the  God  of  Israel,  who  was  considered  as 
residing  in  the  midst  of  the  camp.  Round 
about  it  were  encamped  the  twelve  tribes: 
Judah,  Zebulon,  and  Issachar,  on  the  east; 
Ephraim,  Benjamin,  and  Manasseh,  to  the 
west:  Dan,  Asher,  and  Napthali  to  the  north; 


9C  THE  TABERNACLE. 

and  Reuben,  Simeon,  and  Gad,  to  the  south. 
The  tribe  of  Levi  being  entirely  employed  in 
%the  sacred  offices  of  the  priesthood,  were 
placed  all  round  nearer  the  Tabernacle;  Moses 
and  Aaron  on  the  east,  the  family  of  Gershom, 
west,  that  of  Merari  north,  and  that  of  Kohath 
south. 

The  Tabernacle,  or  Tent  of  the  Covenant, 
must  always  be  distinguished  from  the  Taber- 
nacle or  Tent  of  the  Congregation,  wherein 
the  people  of  Israel  assembled  to  transact 
their  ordinary  temporal  affairs.  The  former 
is  also  called  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Testimo- 
ny, and  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Lord.  It  was 
constructed  by  Moses,  from  the  pattern  shown 
to  him  by  God  himself  in  Mount  Sinai,  and 
was  first  set  up  and  consecrated  at  the  foot  of 
that  celebrated  mountain,  on  the  first  day  of 
the  second  year  after  the  Israelites  were  de- 
livered from  their  Egyptian  oppressors,  about 
2514  years  after  the  creation  of  the  world,  and 
1490  years  before  the  incarnation  of  that 
Great  High  Priest,  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  to  whom  and  to  whose  coming  these 
rites  and  ceremonies  expressly  referred. 


THE  TABERNACLE.  97" 

This  Tabernacle  was  the  place  of  prayer, 
and  of  the  public  service  of  God,  Lev.  xvii. 
3 — 6,  Matt.  xxi.  13.  It  signified  the  church, 
which  is  the  habitation  of  God  through  the 
Spirit,  2  Cor.  vi.  16.  Eph.  ii.  19—22.  Rev. 
xxi.  2,  3,  and  was  a  visible  sign  of  God's 
presence  and  protection,  Lev.  xxvi.  11,  12. 
Ezek.  xxxvii.  27,  28.  1  Kings  vi.  12,  13; 
and  of  his  leading  them  to  his  heavenly  glory: 
for  as  the  high  priest  entered  into  the  taber- 
nacle, and  through  the  veil  into  the  most  Holy 
Place,  where  God  dwelt;  so  Christ  entered 
into  the  Holy  of  Holies,  and  we  also  enter 
through  the  veil,  that  is  to  say  his  flesh.  Thus 
the  sanctuary  is  to  be  applied  as  a  type  to  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ,  John  ii.  19 — 21.  Heb. 
viii.  2.  ix.  11,  12;  also  to  every  Christian,  1 
Cor.  vi.  19:  and  to  the  church  of  God,  1  Tim. 
iii.  15.  Heb.  iii.  6.  Heb.  x.  21;  hence  it  was 
because  of  the  very  extensive  signification  of 
this  building,  that  the  different  things  belong- 
ing to  it,  are  so  particularly  set  down  by 
Moses,  and  so  variously  applied  by  the  pro- 
phets and  by  the  apostles.  As  the  dwelling 
of  the  Almighty  in  this  Tabernacle  was  the 
J 


98  THE  TABERNACLE. 

highest  proof  of  his  grace  and  mercj  towards 
the  Israelites,  so  it  signified  Christ's  dwelling 
by  faith  in  the  hearts  of  believers,  by  which 
they  receive  the  highest  proof  of  their  recon 
ciliation  to  God,  and  of  his  love  and  favour 
to  them. 

It  is  extremely  remarkable  that  the  hea- 
thens borrowed  their  best  things  from  divine 
revelation.  A  striking  instance  here  presents 
itself.  In  the  idolatrous  temples  of  Greece 
and  Rome,  there  were  a  Holy  and  a  Most  Holy 
Place,  corresponding  to,  and  evidently  copied 
from  those  of  the  Tabernacle  in  the  Wilder- 
ness, and  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem.  They 
even  had  portable  temples,  to  imitate  the 
moveable  Tabernacle,  as  the  shrines  of  Diana, 
mentioned,  Acts  xix.  24,  were  something  of 
this  kind. 


100 


101 


THE  ARK  OF  THE  COVENANT. 

The  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  wherein  the  ta- 
bles of  stone  containing  the  Ten  Command- 
ments were  deposited  by  Moses,  Exod. 
xxxvii.  1,  after  he  had  received  them  from 
the  hand  of  God  himself,  was  made  of  shittim 
wood,  covered  with  plates  of  gold.  Upon  the 
top  of  it  all  round  the  edge,  was  a  beautiful 
gold  rim,  or  crown,  as  above  represented, 
bordering  the  mercy  seat  upon  which  the 
cherubim  appear.  It  had  also  four  rings  of 
gold,  two  on  each  side,  in  which  the  staves  or 
poles,  used  to  carry  it,  were  placed.  In  the 
Ark,  also,  Aaron's  rod  that  budded,  Numb, 
xvii.  8,  and  the  pot  of  the  manna,  Exodus  xvi. 
S3,  34,  were  laid  up  to  be  preserved  as  me- 
morials of  the  omnipotence  and  goodness  of 
God.  After  the  passage  of  Jordan  by  the  Is- 
raelites, headed  by  the  Levites  bearing  the 
Ark,  Numb.  x.  33,  Josh.  iii.  15,  16,  the  Ark 
continued  some  time  at  Gilgal,  whence  it  was 
removed  to  Shiloh,  1  Sam.  iv.  3,  11,  from 
i  2 


102  THE  ARK  OF  THE  COVENANT. 

thence  the  Israelites  carried  it  into  battle, 
where  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines. 
In  Saul's  reign,  the  Philistines  having  sent  it 
back,  it  was  placed  at  Kirjath-jearim,  1  Sam. 
vii.  1,  whence  David  conveyed  it  to  the  house 
of  Obededom,  2  Samuel  vi.  10,  and  afterwards 
to  his  palace,  called  the  city  of  David,  on 
Mount  Zion,  2  Samuel  vi.  12. 

From  the  palace  of  his  father,  Solomon  re- 
moved it  to  the  place  called  the  Holiest  of  Ho- 
lies, prepared  expressly  for  it  in  the  gorgeous 
temple  which  he  built,  wherein  it  remained 
till  the  kings  of  Judah  giving  themselves  up 
to  idolatry  and  wickedness,  the  priests  were 
obliged  to  remove  the  ark  to  preserve  it  from 
profanation.  It  was  brought  back  to  the  sanc- 
tuary by  the  command  of  good  king  Josiah,  2 
Chron.  xxxv.  3,  and  remained  there  till  Ma- 
nasseh  took  it  away,  soon  after  which  Jeru- 
salem fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Babylonians, 
from  which  period  there  is  no  certain  account 
concerning  it,  though  some  think  it  was  car- 
ried with  other  spoils  to  Babylon,  but  never 
returned,  as  both  Jews  and  Christians  agree 


THE  ARK  OF  THE  COVENANT*  103 

that  there  was  no  Ark  of  the  Covenant  in  the 
second  temple. 

As  the  Ark  was  a  sacred  chest,  or  coffer, 
the  little  chests  or  cistse  of  the  heathens, 
wherein  they  locked  up  their  most  sacred 
things  for  religious  uses,  appear  to  have  been 
imitations  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant;  though 
some,  for  what  good  reason  does  not  distinctly 
appear,  think  they  refer  to  Noah's  Ark.  Else- 
where we  have  treated  at  some  length  con- 
cerning the  cherubim,  which  are  beautifully 
represented  in  the  above  elegant  sketch,  where 
the  kneeling  posture  appears  more  appropriate 
and  reverential  than  that  of  standing,  as  in 
the  design  already  before  our  readers. 


104 


The  Brazen  Laver, 


105 


THE  BRAZEN  LAYER, 


In  our  general  view  of  the  Tabernacle  in 
the  Wilderness  with  the  surrounding  Court, 
the  reader  will  observe,   that  nearly  in  the 
middle  of  the  Court  stands  a  small  sketch  of 
the  Brazen  Laver,  a  further  representation  of 
which,  upon  a  larger  scale,  is  here  given  from 
the  most  approved  authorities.     We  wish  to 
impress  the  fact,  that  as  there  are  very  few, 
if  any,  paintings  or  sculptured  representations 
now  in  being,  which  furnish  the  exact  form  of 
the  sacred  utensils  employed  in  the  Levitical 
Rites,  or  from  which  accurate  plans  of  the  Ta- 
bernacle or  of  Solomon's  Temple  could  be  ob- 
tained, learned  and  pious  men  have  endea- 
voured to  supply  the  deficiency  by  drawing 
from  the  descriptions  which  llie   Bible  con- 
tains.    These  descriptions  are  found  in  those 
parts   where  Moses  relates   the  instructions 
which  he  received  from  God  to  prepare  the 
Tabernacle,  and  every  thing  belonging  there- 
to, according  to  the  pattern  shown  to  him  in 


106  BRAZEN  LAVER. 

the  Mount,  for  which  see  the  six  last  chapter* 
of  the  book  of  Exodus.  On  this  account  it  is 
not  surprising  that  different  persons  under- 
stand these  ancient  scriptural  descriptions 
differently;  for  though  the  descriptions  are 
plain  and  explicit  as  to  the  use  of  the  things 
described,  they  admit  of  variations  in  the  form 
of  the  different  utensils.  Thus  the  Brazen 
Laver,  though  universally  admitted  to  have 
been  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  Court  of  the 
Tabernacle,  opposite  to  the  door  of  the  Sanc- 
tuary, and  to  have  consisted  of  a  large  brass 
reservoir  or  basin  of  water  which  was  drawn 
out  of  it  by  cocks,  for  washing  the  hands  and 
feet  of  the  officiating  priests,  and  also  for 
cleansing  the  entrails  and  legs  of  the  sacri- 
fices; is  by  some  persons  supposed  to  have 
resembled  the  above  representation.  In  Ex- 
odus xxxviii.  8,  we  learn  that  the  foot  of  the 
Brazen  Laver,  was  formed  out  of  the  looking 
glasses  of  the  women  that  assembled  at  the 
door  of  the  Tabernacle,  which  those  pious  fe- 
males had  offered  for  the  service  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, in  the  same  way  that  we  are  told  that 
(Exodus  xxxv.  29,)  "every  man  and  woman 
whose  heart  made  them  willing,*' brought  a 


BRAZEN  LAYER.  1Q7 

willing  offering  unto  the  Lord.     Our  readers 
should  be  here  informed,  that  glass,  if  not  en- 
tirely a  modern  invention,  has  been  generally 
employed  for  domestic  purposes  only  since  a 
comparatively  recent  period:  the  brass  mir- 
rors, therefore,  here  spoken  of,  like  those  of 
iron,  tin,  and   silver,  used   by  the   Romans, 
Grecians,  and  other  Pagan  nations,  were  po- 
lished plates  of  those  different  metals,  and  by 
no  means  inadequate  for  every  necessary  pur- 
pose, though  certainly  not  equal  to  the  mo- 
dern looking-glasses,  properly  so  called.    In 
tins  instance  there  appears  a  remarkable  coin- 
cidence between  sacred  and  profane  history, 
which  is  worthy  of  observation,  but  the  most 
important  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  the 
Mosaical   account   are,   the   direct    relation 
which  the  particulars  of  that  account  bear  to 
the  doctrine  of  redemption,  and  the  Gospel 
of  truth  and   grace,  which   came   by  Jesus 
Christ;  and  the  singular  and  unanimous  wil- 
lingness here  shown,  even  by  the  hard-hearted 
and  stiff-necked  Jews  to  sacrifice  every  thing, 
however  pleasing  or  valuable,  for  the  service 
and  honour  of  God. 


108 


109 
THE  ALTAR  OF  BURNT  OFFERING. 

Altars  are  undoubtedly  as  ancient  as  sa- 
crifices, which  were  instituted  after  the  fall  of 
man,  to  signify  that  it  was  only  through  the 
sacrificial  atonement  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
that  he  could  receive  the  pardon  of  his  sins, 
and  be  restored  to  the  spiritual  image  and  fa- 
vour of  his  divine  Creator.  The  earliest  altars 
of  which  we  find  any  express  testimony,  are 
those  of  Noah  and  Abraham — Gen.  viii.  20, 
xii.  7,  xxii.  9,  though  the  offerings  which  Cain 
and  Abel  brought,  Gen.  iv.  3,  4,  necessarily 
imply  something  of  the  kind  to  have  been 
known  in  their  day.  These  patriarchal  altars 
were  formed  of  rude  materials.  They  were 
easily  built,  and  therefore  in  general  tempora- 
ryj  hence  we  find  the  altar  which  Jacob  set  up 
at  Bethel,  was  merely  the  stone  on  which  he 
rested,  Gen.  xxviii.  18,  22,  such  also  was 
Gideon's  altar,  Judges  vi.  24,  and  from  Exodus 
xx.  24,  it  appears  that  the  first  altar  which 
Moses  erected  by  the  command  of  God  was 
made  of  earth.  The  Jews  often  gave  the  name 
"altars"  to  a  kind  of  tables  raised  in  the 
country  or  fields,  on  which  sacrifices  were 

K 


110  ALTAR  OF  BURNT  OFFERING. 

offered  to  God;  thus  we  often  read  that  in 
various  places  an  altar  was  built  unto  the  Lord. 
Under  the  Mosaical  dispensation,  the  prin- 
cipal altars  of  the  Jews  were  the  altar  of  in- 
cense, the  table  or  altar  of  shew-bread,  which 
we  have  elsewhere  described,  and  the  altar  of 
burnt  offering  here  depicted.  This  altar  was 
placed  towards  the  east  end  of  the  Court  of 
the  Tabernacle,  and  at  such  a  convenient  dis- 
tance from  it,  that  the  smoke  of  the  fire  which 
was  constantly  burning  on  the  altar,  might 
not  sully  the  costly  furniture  of  the  Taberna- 
cle, It  was  about  eight  feet  square,  and  five 
feet  and  a  half  high.  It  was  made  of  shittim 
wood  plated  with  brass,  and  had  four  brass 
rings,  through  which  were  put  two  bars,  by 
which  it  was  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
priests.  The  four  horns,  one  at  each  of  the 
four  corners  are  supposed  to  have  served  for 
the  steadying  the  altar  when  carried,  and  for 
tying  the  victims,  according  to  the  allusion  of 
David,  Psalm  cxviii.  27;  but  it  is  not  said, 
whether  they  were  straight  or  curved.  The 
fire  of  this  altar  was  kept  upon  a  square  grate, 
suspended  by  rings  at  the  corners,  and  possi- 


ALTAR  OF  BURNT  OFFERING.  Ill 

blj  by  chains  m  the  cavity  of  the  altar.  The 
fire  was  considered  as  sacred,  having  first  de- 
scended upon  it  from  heaven,  Lev.  ix*.  24;  ft 
was  therefore  never  suffered  to  go  out,  Lev. 
vi.  13.  From  hence,  probably,  the  Chaldeans 
and  Persians  borrowed  their  notion  of  the 
sacred  fire,  which  they  preserved  with  religious 
care  and  attention;  a  custom  which  afterwards 
passed  from  them  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
This  altar  was  beaten  down  and  destroyed 
by  the  Babylonians  at  the  burning  of  the  tem- 
ple, but  it  was  replaced,  Ezra  iii.  3,  on  the  re- 
turn of  the  Jews  from  captivity.  It  then  form- 
ed a  large  pile  of  unhewn  stone,  forty-eight 
feet  square  at  the  bottom,  and  gradually  di- 
minishing to  the  top  or  hearth,  which  was  a 
square  of  thirty-six  feet,  and  a  foot  and  half 
high.  This  part  was  made  of  solid  brass,  and 
from  it  the  whole  was  called  the  brazen  altar: 
for  it  cannot  be  imagined  that  it  was  all  made 
of  that  metal.  The  Kibbesh,  or  ascent  up  to 
the  altar,  as  seen  above,  was  by  a  gentle  rising 
of  forty-eight  feet  long,  and  twenty-four  broad, 
and  led  to  the  upper  benching-in,  which  bor- 
dered the  hearth  on  the  top  of  the  altar. 


112  ALTAR  OF  BURNT  OFFERING. 

The  heathens,  among  whom  we  may  almost 
invariably  trace  the  corrupted  remains  of  Di- 
vine Institutions,  at  first  made  altars  of  turf; 
and  afterwards  of  stone,  marble,  wood,  and 
even  of  horn,  as  that  of  Apollo  in  Delos.  Be- 
fore temples  were  in  use,  their  altars  were 
erected  in  groves,  in  high  places,  and  on  the 
tops  of  mountains.  To  this  the  words  of  Moses, 
Lev.  xxvi.  30,  and  the  denunciations  of  the 
prophets  allude — Ezek.  vi.  3,  Hos.  x.  8.  The 
deluded  worshippers  of  wood  and  stone,  or  of 
imaginary,  and  even  infernal  idols,  generally 
inscribed  upon  each  altar  the  name  or  attri- 
bute of  the  idol  to  whom  it  was  dedicated. — 
Hence  the  altar,  mentioned  Acts  xvii.  23, 
found  by  the  Apostle  Paul  at  Athens,  was 
inscribed  to  "the  unknown  God." 

The  heathen  altars  were  of  various  kinds, 
and  were  dedicated  to  false  gods,  heroes,  vir- 
tues, vices,  diseases,  reptiles;  in  short  to  every 
thing  except  the  one  true  and  ever  blessed  God. 
These  altars  were  portable  or  stationary,  pub- 
lic and  private,  and  were  also  of  different 
figures,  as  round,  square,  or  triangular.  They 
were  universally  turned  towards  the  east,  and 


ALTAR  OF  BURNT  OFFERING.  115 

generally  ornamented  with  sculpture  and  bas- 
relief,  in  addition  to  the  inscriptions  to  the 
idols  for  whose  worship  they  were  built,  and 
whose  distinguishing  symbols  generally  con- 
stituted their  chief  ornaments.  They  had  horns 
like  those  of  the  Jews,  to  which  the  victims 
were  fastened,  and  the  criminals  who  fled  for 
refuge  to  the  altar  laid  hold  of  these  horns, 
by  which  the  ancient  pagans  used  to  swear  in 
forming  alliances,  or  confirming  treaties  of 
peace. 

Altar  is  sometimes,  but  improperly  used 
among  Christians  for  a  square  table,  placed 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  church,  where  it  is 
raised  a  little  above  the  floor,  and  set  apart 
for  the  celebration  of  the  Eucharist.  Its  form 
does  not  in  the  least  resemble  the  patriarchal 
or  Jewish  altars  which  are  the  undoubted  ori- 
ginals of  all  others;  and  as  the  Eucharist  was 
instituted  by  our  Blessed  Lord  at  supper,  and 
upon  a  table,  in  the  form  of  which  all  modern 
altars  are  made,  it  is  more  significantly  called 
the  Communion  Table. 


114 


The  Mar  of  Incense. 


115 


THE  ALTAR  OF  INCENSE. 

This  was  a  small  table  of  shittim  wood, 
covered  with  plates  of  gold,  and  hence,  Exod. 
xl.  5,  called  the  Altar  of  Gold,  of  one  cubit  in 
length,  one  in  width,  and  another  in  height; 
it  had  a  little  golden  border  or  crown  all  round 
it,  and  a  horn  at  each  of  the  four  corners,  like 
those  of  the  altar  of  Burnt-Offering,  but  it  is 
not  known  whether  they  were  straight  or  curv- 
ed. This  Altar  was  placed  before  the  vail  in 
the  Holy  Place,  Exod.  xxx.  6.  Every  morn- 
ing and  evening  the  Priest  in  waiting  for  that 
week,  and  appointed  by  lot  for  this  office,  of- 
fered incense  of  a  particular  composition  upon 
this  Altar,  and  to  perform  this  duty  entered 
with  a  smoking  censer,  filled  with  fire  taken 
from  the  Altar  of  Burnt-Offerings,  into  the 
Holy  Place  where  this  Altar  was  placed,  over 
against  the  Shew  Bread  Table,  and  retired  as 
soon  as  he  had  placed  the  censers  on  the  altar. 

"  Where  so  many  sacrifices  were  offered,*' 
says  Dr.  Clarke,  "  it  was  essentially  neces- 
k  2 


116  THE  ALTAR  OF  INCENSE. 

saiy  to  have  some  pleasing  perfume,  to  coun- 
teract the  disagreeable  smells  that  must  have 
arisen,  from  the  slaughter  of  so  many  animals, 
the  sprinkling  of  so  much  blood,  and  the  burn- 
ing of  so  much  flesh,  "  &c.  No  blood  was  ever 
sprinkled  on  this  altar,  except  on  the  day  of 
general  expiation,  which  happened  only  once 
in  the  year,  Exod.  xxx.  10,  but  the  perfume 
was  necessary  in  every  part  of  the  Tabernacle 
and  its  environs;  it  is  described  in  the  34th, 
35th,  and  36th  verses  of  the  above  chapter. 

The  stacte  is  supposed  to  be  the  same  with 
what  was  afterwards  called  the  Balm  of  Jeri- 
cho: it  is  a  gum  which  spontaneously  flows 
from  the  tree  producing  myrrh.  The  onycha 
consisted  of  the  external  crust  of  a  shell  fish, 
which  still  forms  the  basis  of  East  Indian  per- 
fumes. The  galbcmitm  was  the  gummy  resi- 
nous juice  produced  by  the  plant  called  the 
African  ferula,  or  bubon  gummifera,  out  of 
which,  when  any  part  wf  it  is  broken,  there 
issues  a  little  thin  milk,  of  a  cream  colour. 
The  frankincense  is  supposed  to  derive  its 
name  from  franc,  free,-  because  of  its  liberal 
or  ready  distribution  of  its  odours.     It  is  a 


THE  ALTAR  OF  INCENSE.  117 

dry  resinous  substance,  in  pieces  or  drops  of 
a  pale  yellowish  or  white  colour,  a  strong 
smell,  and  a  bitter  acrid  taste;  the  tree  which 
produces  it  is  not  well  known. 

The  Israelites  were  most  strictly  prohibited 
on  the  most  awful  penalties,  from  making  any 
anointing  oil  or  perfume,  similar  to  those 
above  described.  He  that  should  compound 
such,  or  apply  any  of  this  to  any  common  pur- 
pose, even  to  smell  to,  Exodus  xxx.  38, 
should  be  cut  oft',  that  is,  excommunicated 
from  his  people,  and  so  lose  all  right,  title, 
and  interest  in  the  promises  of  God,  and  the 
redemption  of  Israel. 


118 


The  Horns  of  the  Altai 


119 


ON  THE  HORNS  OF  THE  ALTAR. 

When  presenting  our  readers  with  the  most 
approved  sketches  of  the  various  altars  used 
in  the  Mosaic  Rites,  we  stated  that  the  exact 
form  of  the  Horns  of  the  Altar  had  not  been 
satisfactorily  ascertained ;  the  above  represen- 
tation will,  however,  throw  some  further  light 
upon  the  subject.  This  drawing  was  taken 
from  an  ancient  Egyptian  picture,  which  had 
been  preserved  by  being  buried  in  the  ruins  of 
Herculaneum,  a  city  that  was  overflowed  and 
buried  by  the  lava  of  Mount  Vesuvius,  in  the 
year  of  our  Lord  79,  and  has  become  famous 
within  the  last  century,  by  the  number  of  cu- 
rious relics  of  antiquity  that  have  been  dug 
out  of  its  ruins. 

This  altar  has  at  each  of  its  four  corners  a 
rising,  which  continues  square  to  about  half 
its  height,  but  from  thence  is  gradually  sloped 
off  to  an  edge  or  point,*  and  those  risings  are 
undoubtedly  what  were  called  the  horns  of  the 
Altar,  and  probably  show  their  true  figure. 
The  reader  is  desired  to  compare  them  with 


120      THE  CHERUBIM  COVERING 

those  of  the  Altars  of  Burnt-Offering,  and  of 
Incense,  bearing  in  mind  that  often  repeated 
observation,  that  many  of  the  heathen  nations 
copied  the  religious  rites,  and  of  course  the 
utensils  employed  in  those  rites  of  the  Jews. 
This  sufficiently  accounts  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  Altar  into  an  Egyptian  painting, 
especially  as  we  find  that  an  occasional  inter- 
course might  have  subsisted  between  the  Is- 
raelites and  the  Egyptians,  1  Sam.  xxx.  13, 
after  the  departure  of  the  former  from  the 
country  of  the  latter,  and  that  Solomon  him- 
self at  length  took  the  King  of  Egypt's  daugh- 
ter to  wife,  1  Kings  iii.  1. 


ON  THE  CHERUBIM  COVERING  THE  MERCY 
SEAT. 

The  wisest  and  most  learned  men  who  have 
turned  their  attention  to  Moses's  account  of 
the  cherubim  covering  the  mercy-seat,  as  well 
as  to  the  prophet  Ezekiel's  description  of  those 
emblematical  creatures,  do  not  concur  in  their 
delineations,  which  proves  that  there  is  but 


121 


122  ON  THE  CHERUBIM 

little  positively  known  concerning  them;  we 
have,  therefore,  introduced  the  above  represen- 
tation of  the  cherubim  standing  upon  the  mer- 
cy-seat of  the  ark,  and  covering  it  with  their 
wings,  Exodus  xxv.  20,  21,  merely  to  furnish 
our  young  readers  with  a  general  idea  upon 
this  interesting  but  difficult  subject. 

The  Cherubim  are  supposed  to  have  been 
emblematical  representations  of  the  Eternal 
Power  and  Godhead  of  the  Almighty;  they 
were  employed  in  guarding  the  entrance  to 
Paradise,  and  keeping  the  way  (or  road)  of  the 
tree  of  life,  Gen.  iii.  24.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  of  their  having  been  variously  com- 
pounded from  different  animals,  Ezekiel  x.  14, 
but  the  difficulty  oF  properly  combining  the 
component  parts,  has  induced  the  author  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  above  sketch, 
to  delineate  them  simply  in  the  form  of  angels. 

The  mercy-stat,  or  propitiatory,  upon  which 
the  cherubim  stood,  was  properly  the  lid  or 
covering  of  that  vessel,  so  well  known  by  the 
name  of  the  ark*  and  ark  of  the  covenant.  On 
snd  before  this  the  high-priest  was  to  sprinkle 
the  blood  of  the  expiatory  sacrifice  on  the  great 


COVERING  THE  MERCY-SEAT.  123 

day  of  atonement;  and  it  was  in  this  place  that 
God  promised  to  meet  the  people,  Exodus  xxv. 
22,  for  there  he  dwelt,  and  there  was  the  sym- 
bol of  the  Divine  presence.  At  each  end  of 
this  propitiatory  was  a  cherub,  and  between 
those  two  cherubim  this  glory  was  manifested, 
hence  in  Scripture  it  is  so  often  said,  that  he 
dwelleth  between  the  cherubim.  In  this  place 
God  chose  to  give  the  most  especial  manifes- 
tations of  himself;  here  the  divine  glory  was 
to  be  seen;  and  here  Moses  was  to  come  in 
order  to  consult  Jehovah,  relative  to  the  man- 
agement of  the  people. 

The  apostle  Peter,  1  Epist.  i.  1 2,  beautiful- 
ly alludes  to  the  position  of  the  cherubim  whose 
wings  overshadowed  the  mercy-seat,  with 
"their  faces  one  to  another  towards,"  or  look- 
ing down  upon,  "the  mercy-seat,"  where  he 
says,  "  which  things  the  angels  desire  to  look 
into,"  for  angels  themselves  are  unable  to 
comprehend  the  merciful  dealings  of  God  with 
the  perverse  and  rebellious  children  of  men, 
who  too  generally  neglect  and  despise  that 
covenant  of  grace,  which  deeply  interests  even 
the  glorified  angels  of  the  ever-blessed  God. 


124 


The  Harp. 


1S5 


THE  HARP. 


The  antiquity  of  this  musical  instrument, 
so  often  mentioned  in  scripture,  is  eyident 
from  the  very  early  notice  there  taken  of  it  in 
Gen.  iv.  21.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  very 
first  instrument  for  music  that  was  invented, 
and  was  called  the  pleasant  harp  by  the  an- 
cient Hebrews,  who  employed  it  not  only  in 
their  devotions,  but  in  their  public  feasts. 
The  harp  is  most  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
Psalms  of  David,  who  is  always  painted  play- 
ing upon  this  instrument,  to  the  sound  of 
which  both  himself  and  the  Levites  danced — 
Ps.  cl.  3,  4.  From  this  last  circumstance,  it 
appears  that  the  ancient  harp  was  not  so  large 
as  the  modern  instrument  of  that  name,  but 
small  and  portable,  like  the  annexed  repre- 
sentation. The  authority  for  this  sketch  is 
unusually  good:  it  was  originally  taken  from 
a  medal  of  Simon  Maccabeus,  so  famous  in  the 
wars  of  the  Jews — Maccab.  xiii.  I.  On  this 
account  there  is  strong  reason  to  suppose  that 
it  accurately  represents  the  kind  ofiharp  upon 


186  THE  HARP. 

which  the  Royal  Psalmist  played;  for  it  ap- 
pears very  probable  that  Simon  Maccabeus 
would  prefer  a  representation  of  that  used  by 
the  great  king  of  Israel,  for  perpetuation  upon 
his  medals:  and  it  is  not  likely  that  the  form 
and  minutest  circumstances  relating  to 
David's  harp,  could  have  been  forgotten,  at 
any  period  of  the  Jewish  History. 

The  harp  was  a  favourite  among  the  Britons 
and  other  northern  nations:  so  that  by  law  the 
ability  to  play  upon  it,  distinguished  the  free- 
man from  the  slave.  There  is  much  diversity 
in  the  structure  of  modern  harps,  which  have 
been  greatly  improved  during  the  last  century. 
They  are,  however,  very  different  from  the  an- 
cient instrument,  not  only  in  size  but  in  the 
number  of  their  strings,  which  are  upwards  of 
a  hundred.  In  playing,  it  is  held  between  the 
feet,  and  struck  with  the  finger  and  thumb  of 
both  hands.  It  produces  music  much  like  that 
of  the  spinnet;  and  is  more  free  from  unavoid- 
able imperfections  than  the  lute,  an  instrument 
resembling  a  violin,  but  played  like  the  guitar, 
by  the  right  hand  without  a  bow. 
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